


Snow on the Fantasy Television

by beckettemory



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: (especially Taako), Bullying, Cameos from a number of BoB agents, Candlenights, Families of Choice, Finding a home, Game Mechanics as Plot Devices, Gen, My Name's Orangina Grape Crush and I'm Found Family Until I DIE, Nicknames, Past Child Abuse, TAZ Balance, Taako And Lup Had A Bad Childhood, Taako is a contrary little shit, The Boys Adopt Angus, The Boys Learn How To Be Good Influences, chapters 5+ are set after the finale, dont pay too much attention to the timeline it doesnt really make sense, everything proceeds in the same order as canon but with longer between canon arcs, first four chapters are set roughly between eleventh hour and suffering game ish, if you draw fanart of my fic you legally have to show me or its entrapment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-07
Updated: 2017-10-08
Packaged: 2018-10-16 02:38:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 33,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10562006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beckettemory/pseuds/beckettemory
Summary: Angus McDonald is a very bright boy. A very polite boy. The best boy.Angus McDonald is also a very very scared boy.Taako doesn't recognize the look Ango gets in his eyes when he's reminded of his past. He doesn't. Absolutely not.And it doesnotmake him want to protect Ango from anything and everything that wants to hurt him.





	1. It's Winter in Neverwinter, and Taako Hates the Snow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings in this chapter for: mention of alcohol, mild threats, reference to trauma responses, bullying, reference to child abuse

It was winter in Neverwinter, and the irony of that was not lost on Magnus. Every time he looked out their windows down to the planet below he would make some kind of bad joke about it, even in the middle of the night when he was the only one awake. More than once Taako heard him laughing to himself, too loud for the hour, and opened his bedroom door to glare at Magnus wordlessly, a small windstorm whirling in his palm and waiting to be deployed, until the man backed down and went to bed.

It was one thing to see the snow from their windows high high up, dusting the mountaintops and roofs of the larger buildings like some kind of living snowglobe and another thing entirely to be _in_ the snow. Nasty stuff. Taako wasn't built for this, and neither were his clothes; sidewalk slush could ruin his good good boots and stain the hems of his skirts and _that_ was a heinous crime if anything was.

But Candlenights presents had to be bought, so on their day off from training, Magnus, Merle, and Taako planned to collect Angus and go planetside for the day. Taako turned up his nose, his ears twitching agitatedly, but put on his most boringest boots and a skirt that wouldn't trail in the gutters, with a thick embroidered shirt that reminded him of his auntie’s carpetbags. Next came his cloak and hat, and he frowned at himself in the mirror when he realized that his hat covered his ears. How would his companions know he was annoyed if they couldn't see his ears twitching? … Would it be _too_ petty if he cut slits in his favorite hat for just that reason?

“Taako, let’s get a move on!” Merle called from the living room. Taako made a face at himself and tugged his hat further down on his head.

“You can’t rush beauty,” he called as he collected his Umbrastaff and coin purse and left his room.

The rest of the boys were standing by the door ready to go, all bundled up except for Magnus who wore nothing more than a flannel shirt and jeans and fantasy tennis shoes.

“Can’t rush what you don’t have, douchebag,” Merle responded, looking so very… _Dwarven_ in his fleece jacket and fur lined boots and trapper hat.

Taako put a manicured hand to his chest and gasped. “It’s bad enough that I’m being forced to go outside in this horrible weather and you go and _insult me_ , too?”

Magnus snickered and shooed everyone out into the hallway. Angus trotted along next to Taako while they walked to the hangar, chatting in a way that was not at all endearing, not this morning.

“I think if I have any extra money after I buy presents,” the kid said, practically vibrating in excitement, “I'm going to buy the new _Caleb Cleveland_ book.”

“Why dontcha wait to see if anyone gets it for you?” Magnus asked from the back of the party.

“That's a good point, sir!” Angus chirped.

Taako cast a glance back at Magnus and saw him mouth, “dibs!” while pointing to himself. Taako huffed and Angus turned his bright eyes back up at him.

“What do _you_ want for Candlenights, sir?”

“A fuckin’ _nap,_ pupik,” Taako said.

Angus looked shocked as they entered the hangar. “B-but sir! You’re an elf! You don’t sleep!”

Avi, prepping the cannon that would blast them down to the planet, laughed. “We _can_ sleep, Ango. We’re just _supposed_ to meditate.” He looked at Taako, his ears twitching like an admonishment.

Taako shrugged. “Too much work, not enough blankets, if you ask me.”

Merle stopped abruptly and turned on his heel, and Taako almost stepped on him. “So _you’re_ the one who stole my good quilt.”

Taako flicked his fingers dismissively as he sidestepped Merle and climbed into the glass ball. “I have no idea what you're talking about,” he said, rolling a middle-of-the-road bluff check. Merle squinted suspiciously at him but let it go.

“Neverwinter, right?” Avi asked as Magnus climbed in the ball.

“Yeah,” Magnus replied, sounding jazzed as hell.

Angus froze in the seat next to Taako. “Neverwinter?” he asked worriedly.

“For sure, kiddo, where else would we go? Phandalin?” Magnus asked.

“Neverwinter has that hardware store Maggie likes,” Merle said.

“Clyde’s Dell isn't just a hardware store,” Magnus said. “It’s an _experience.”_

Taako snorted. “Yeah, an experience of buying doorknobs and electrical tape.”

“Everybody good?” Avi asked, waiting for a thumbs up from Merle before shutting the hatch. They felt the glass ball being moved into the mouth of the cannon.

“I-I thought we were going to Rockport,” Angus said.

Merle frowned and turned his head as well as he could to peer between the front seats at Angus, but everything went dark in the barrel of the cannon a moment later.

“What's wrong with Neverwinter?” Merle asked, his voice sounding like he'd faced front again.

The cannon blast interrupted Angus’s reply and there was a solid ten seconds where no one could say anything. When everything quieted Merle turned around again, watching Angus.

“It’s nothing,” Angus said, waving a hand dismissively, though Taako could see his other hand clutching his hat tight in his lap.

When they touched down in a little copse of trees that for some reason had stayed undeveloped while Neverwinter built up all around, they split up, pairing off with plans to meet in the square by the bell tower in two hours to get lunch and trade partners.

Angus went with Taako first, and the latter spent the two hours indoors as much as possible and brushing off the boy’s nervous energy as much as he could.

Their first stop was Clyde’s Dell to shop for Magnus, and Angus had the bright idea to get him a set of fantasy wood burning tools. Taako claimed dibs on the idea and Angus happily picked out a flowerpot that claimed to grow to fit any tree planted in it, while simultaneously slimming the resulting tree magically so a full-grown redwood could fit in the average Rockport apartment bathroom, and he had the shopkeeper (Clyde, Taako assumed) plant a fantasy Brazilian rosewood sapling in it.

“Good idea, muffin, but how’re you gonna get that back to the moon without Mag seeing it?” Taako asked at the register.

Angus smiled a toothy smile up at him (when had the kid lost that tooth?) and pulled a small, shimmering black and silver package out of his pocket. He unfolded it an inordinate number of times and held out what looked like a backpack.

Taako raised an eyebrow. “Now where did a little baby like you get a Handy Haversack?”

Angus puffed out his chest and opened the top flap. “The Director gave it to me on my birthday. She said it would be useful if I ever go to fantasy university, but I've used it a bunch just at the Bureau, like when borrow books from Johann or Leon.”

Taako hummed, impressed, and helped the kid wrestle the potted tree into the extradimensional backpack.

Next they shopped for Merle and the Director, and Taako felt very satisfied with the galaxy print headscarf and supernova brooch he got for Lucretia. When they’d both gone through the Fantasy Kohl’s checkout line and shoved their purchases in Angus’s Handy Haversack, they trudged back out into the snow to meet the boys for lunch.

Well, Taako trudged. Angus… also trudged? Weird. He was usually more of a fancy horse trotting from place to place. Taako frowned when he saw Angus deflate as they left Fantasy Kohl’s. His shoulders hunched and he paused each time they came to a street they needed to cross. He seemed to peer around the corners of buildings and then hurry across the street, and Taako, master of observation, even saw him jump when someone shouted across the square at a friend.

And then Merle and Magnus were there, whining about how they’d waited for ten minutes, and Taako was swept into an argument as they scouted out a lunch place and forgot all about Angus’s deal.

After their, hmm, _colorful_ lunch at Fantasy Buffalo Wild Wings, Magnus joined Taako and waved goodbye to Angus and Merle, reminding them to meet up at Fantasy Baskin Robbins in another two hours.

Taako was still in a bad mood. It was _far_ too cold to be outside, and his toes were frozen and wet in his most boringest boots, which didn’t even manage to make up for their boringness by being watertight. His cloak wasn’t warm enough, and Magnus Fucking Burnsides had the gall to look _warm_ in a flannel shirt and jeans, without even a coat or a hat.

Magnus chattered away at Taako about the gifts he’d bought Angus and Carey and Killian, about the hilarious joke he’d told Merle, about his plan for Carey and Killian’s wedding gift…

Taako wandered ahead of him in the men’s casualwear section of Fantasy Dillards and cast Prestidigitation, making a sparkling line of script appear on the back of his cloak.

“Please Stop Talking :)”

Magnus huffed and went silent, and Taako marveled at his newfound ability to go twenty minutes without talking until he looked up and realized Magnus had left at some point.

And then he returned as though nothing had happened and showed Taako the flask he’d found for Avi and Taako sighed.

When they emerged back into the snow, Magnus carrying both of their purchases, they saw Merle and Angus coming out of the building next door, a cooking supply store. Angus sputtered excuses but Merle just shrugged.

“Candlenights,” Merle said, and Taako nodded sagely.

As they sat in the not-quite-warm-enough sitting area of Fantasy Baskin Robbins, all eating ice cream except Taako (“Aren’t you going to get anything, sir?” “Pollito, you couldn’t _pay_ me to eat anything colder than boiling in this weather.”), Angus started listing things.

“I have gifts for the Director, all of you guys, Carey, Killian, Noelle, Johann, Avi, Davenport, and the Voidfish… I think that’s everyone,” he said, counting on his fingers.

“You got something for the Voidfish?” Merle asked.

“Yeah!” Angus exclaimed. “I go in there sometimes to hang out with Johann and study the Voidfish and it just seems so bored in there when no one talks to it, so I got some big stickers for its tank!”

Taako, master of his own emotions, did _not_ find that adorable. Not adorable or endearing whatsoever.

“What about your family, Ango, you gonna get them gifts too?” Magnus asked casually before shovelling a maddeningly huge bite of Cherries Jubilee ice cream into his mouth.

Angus flinched and dropped his spoon onto the table. Magnus frowned around his bite of ice cream and Taako mirrored the expression sans frozen dairy. Merle wordlessly got up and got a couple of napkins and a clean spoon while Angus recovered from whatever conniption the honest question had sent him into.

“N-no, I’m not getting them anything,” Angus said finally, sounding unsure.

“Okay then,” Magnus said, and started grilling his companions for gift ideas for the Director.

Angus stayed silent and Taako watched him every now and then. The boy ate little more of his cotton candy ice cream before it melted, and sat withdrawn and staring into the paper cup, stirring the blue and pink ice cream slowly until it was a featureless lavender soup. He only rejoined the conversation when talk turned to plans for their Candlenights party, and Magnus looked relieved at not having broken him.

When Magnus and Merle finished their ice cream and Angus tired of playing with his, they parted ways again, this time Angus and Magnus striking out together and Merle and Taako trudging back into the wintery hellscape. Unless they needed more time, this would be their last excursion, and they would meet back at the glass ball in two hours.

Merle was happy to not chat about anything and everything while they shopped, which Taako was enormously grateful for, unless he was accused of having any sort of positive feelings about anyone or anything in which case he would complain that Merle had _refused_ to strike up a conversation and left him _bored_ and _lonely._ Merle did sing Kenny Chesney songs under his breath, though, which was almost enough for Taako to send a Sleep spell his way.

The only person Taako had left to shop for was Angus, and Merle was done, so they headed to Fantasy Books A Million. Merle wandered the aisles and Taako found the _Caleb Cleveland: Kid Cop_ display. Magnus was getting him the new book, so that was out, but Taako had an idea. He definitely hadn’t read the installment of the series given to him last Candlenights, and he definitely didn’t like it (shut up), so he definitely just grabbed one of the books at random and flipped to a random page to remind himself of something he definitely didn’t already know.

Totally New Information obtained, he collected Merle and they wandered a couple of blocks until they found a large children’s clothing store. Taako grinned proudly to himself as he gathered all of the pieces for Caleb Cleveland’s school uniform in what he guessed was Angus’s size: grey and black checkered breeches, long black socks, teal leather loafers, a dark brown belt, a tan short sleeve shirt, a teal and brown spotted tie, and a grey blazer. It was an ugly outfit, but it would make Angus happy, he guessed (not that he cared).

The cashier took one look at the items piled on the counter and smiled widely. “Your son’s a _Caleb Cleveland_ fan, huh?”

Taako didn’t have the energy to correct her. “Sure is. Won’t leave me alone about it.”

She laughed as she started ringing everything up. “You should give them a try, they’re surprisingly good. My daughter has the whole series, all forty-seven of them.”

Something started making noise in Taako’s pocket, and he clapped a hand down over it in annoyance. A moment later the same sound came from Merle’s bag, and Merle excused himself and walked away to answer the Stone of Far-Speech.

Just before Taako handed over the money for the outfit Merle came hurrying back to the register, looking alarmed.

“Magnus lost Angus,” Merle said shortly, and Taako’s eyes widened.

“Tell him we’ll be right there,” Taako said, and quickly counted out the correct number of coins, not even bothering to get change before he yanked the bag off of the counter and strode out of the store, leaving Merle practically running to keep up.

Magnus was pacing the perimeter of the square when they found him, looking nervously down each alley and street that connected to it.

“What the fuck happened?” Taako demanded without greeting when Magnus noticed them and jogged over.

“I don’t know, he just--one minute he’s right behind me in Fantasy Yankee Candle’s and the next he’s gone, nowhere in the store,” Magnus explained in a rush, looking close to tears.

“You buffoon,” Taako sighed, and cast Locate Creature.

A thin golden line shot out from his feet and every couple of seconds it pulsed in a sort of ripple. Taako followed the line, leading the way because the others couldn’t see it, and Merle and Magnus fell in. At one point he stepped in a deep puddle but ignored the chill that soaked through his boot and halfway up his shin in his haste. They only traveled three blocks on the main streets before the golden line took a sharp turn into an alley and they were greeted by a sight that stopped Taako’s heart for a fraction of a second.

Angus was cowering in the corner of the alley, glasses broken and a mitten missing, with four teenage boys towering over him. Two of the boys were humans, one was an elf, and one a halfling, and all wore relatively nice clothes.

“You’ve got a lot of nerve showing up here,” one of the boys spat at Angus.

“We thought we’d run you out of town years ago,” another sneered.

Angus held up his hands nervously. “I’ll leave, that’s fine, you’re right, I shouldn’t be here,” he babbled. “Please, Vasad, Alred, just let me go.”

The second boy hummed as if in deep thought. “Nope,” he said brightly. “I don’t think you’ve learned your lesson just yet.”

Three of the boys took a menacing step towards Angus, hands reaching.

“Wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Magnus said, his voice low and deathly serious.

The four boys spun around and were greeted by the sight of Magnus holding Railsplitter loosely in both hands, Merle with Smoosher the Warhammer resting casually on his shoulder, and Taako tossing a small flaming orb into the air over and over with one hand.

The boy who hadn’t stepped forward to grab at Angus, apparently the ringleader of these young ruffians, turned white as a sheet.

“Uh, we weren’t--we weren’t gonna hurt him,” the boy stuttered, his eyes nervously following the path of Taako’s little flame.

“Just, uh, scare him,” another said.

Taako turned his attention to Angus, still backed into a corner and crying. “Did these boys hurt you, mijo?”

Angus wavered, glanced at the backs of each of the bullies, and shook his head. He rolled a horrible bluff check, though, and Taako saw right through it.

Taako made the flame turn a bright green and cleared his throat as he turned back to the boys and cast Suggestion.

“How about you boys go straight to the closest constable,” he said, “and tell them that you were about to purposefully maim a little kid. And whoever picks you up from the jail, if you _do_ get let out, tell them that you were being a nasty little bully boy. That sound agreeable?”

The ringleader gulped and his eyes went unfocused. “Uh-huh,” he said, sounding terrified. As Taako looked at each boy, their eyes unfocused and with a slight incline of his head they started walking out of the alley.

Merle, Magnus, and Taako stepped out of the opening of the alley to let them pass, and when the boys were gone Angus darted forward, now sobbing openly, and threw himself at Taako.

Taako hurriedly dismissed the flame in his hand and patted awkwardly at Angus’s head. “It’s okay, pits’l, they’re gone,” he murmured.

“Are you hurt, Dango?” Merle asked, putting a hand on Angus’s shoulder

Angus flinched and his arms tightened around Taako’s waist for a moment before he pulled back.

“A little,” he said. “And my glasses are broken.”

Merle patted Angus’s shoulder again and a flash of blue light blinked through his skin for a fraction of a second. Merle held out a hand, palm up, and Angus took off his glasses with trembling hands and put them in Merle’s palm. A flash of white light and the glasses were fixed, and Merle handed them back.

“Thank you, sir,” Angus said quietly.

Magnus put away Railsplitter and kneeled in front of Angus, his facial expression intense but compassionate. Taako couldn't help but notice that he was kneeling in a two inch deep pile of grey slush. “Who were those boys?” he asked.

Angus closed his eyes and shook his head, wrapping his arms around his chest.

“You can tell us,” Magnus said softly. “It’s okay.”

Angus hiccuped and then took a shaky breath. “Just some bullies,” he mumbled. “We went to fantasy high school together.”

Magnus hummed, satisfied with that answer, and stood. He offered his hand to Angus.

“How ‘bout we go home, short-stop?” he asked quietly. Angus took his hand cautiously, and Magnus looked at his other companions. “We need anything else?”

Taako shook his head.

“We got it all,” Merle said.

The trip back to the moon was quiet. Angus hugged his backpack to his chest in the glass ball, staring through the floor at the city of Neverwinter getting smaller and smaller. Taako chewed at a manicured thumbnail, his mind racing. Magnus got out Steven the goldfish and turned the globe over in his hands, lost in thought. Only Merle made any noise, humming Bohemian Rhapsody to himself.

They were met in the hangar by Avi, who was significantly more tipsy than when they’d left that morning. Everyone except Magnus left the hangar immediately after exiting the glass ball. Merle headed to the dorm with his purchases, and Taako accompanied Angus as far as the boy’s own dorm near the Director’s office. Then, after prying Angus’s arms from around his waist and saying goodbye, Taako took a detour to the Director’s office.

She was sitting at her desk, writing on a big piece of parchment with a comically large feather pen. Davenport was reshelving a stack of books on the far side of the room.

Taako cleared his throat when the Director still hadn’t noticed him standing in the doorway after half a minute. She finally looked up, startled to see it was Taako who had entered so quietly.

“Taako,” she said. “I didn’t hear you come in. How was your trip?”

Taako came all the way in and collapsed dramatically in one of the chairs in front of the Director’s desk.

“I don’t want to sound dramatic,” he said, “but a jolly old trip to Phandalin might have been a better idea.”

The Director looked mildly amused. She set down her pen and folded her hands in invitation for Taako to explain.

“First off, fuckin’ snow,” Taako complained. “Bad, bad stuff. Next, shopping for people who aren’t me. And then Boy Wonder went and got snatched by some old bullies.”

The Director’s eyes widened just a touch. “You brought him back, though, I hope?”

Taako waved a hand. “Oh, yeah, he’s fine. I’m just a little bit _miffed_ that we unwittingly took Ango back to the city he grew up in.” He didn’t hold back the hint and the Director looked vaguely guilty.

“You’re wanting to see his personnel file,” she guessed.

“No,” Taako said. “I’m _going_ to see his personnel file.”

The Director’s eyes flashed with indignation, though her expression didn’t change, and Taako distantly wondered how he could read her so well. Then she composed herself and got out of her chair. She walked gracefully over to the cluster of file cabinets in the corner, the end of her silvery headscarf trailing as if in a light breeze behind her. She pulled open a cabinet drawer and produced a file folder.

She returned to the desk and handed it over.

“Is there anything else?” she asked, formal and cold.

Taako got to his feet, his purchases in one hand and the file folder in the other. “Yeah, Candlenights is in a few days,” he said.

“I’ve already gotten your gift,” the Director said pointedly.

“Return it,” Taako said bluntly. “I want something else.”

She raised an eyebrow in question.

“A four bedroom apartment,” Taako said.

The Director nodded. “Done.”

“Great,” Taako deadpanned, and headed for the door. “See you in the Icosagon tomorrow.”

 

* * *

 

 

The morning before Candlenights the boys woke up to construction noise very early. Taako stumbled out of his room angrily preparing a Chill Touch in one hand and a Ray of Frost in the other, but he couldn’t see anyone in the living room. There wasn’t even any indication of actual construction happening, yet the unmistakable sounds of hammering and sawing wood were permeating the apartment.

Merle came out of his room, too, rubbing his eyes and blinking quickly. He looked around in confusion, seemed to accept what what happening, and went back into his room and closed the door.

Taako stormed into Magnus’s room to tell him off for not respecting that other people _need sleep, idiota,_ but when he opened the door he saw Magnus sitting upright in bed, yawning and swiping at his eyes sleepily. Taako huffed and put away the spells gearing up in his palms, and went back to his room.

Even with the door closed the construction sounds weren’t muffled whatsoever, so Taako angrily gathered his pillow and best blankie and stomped out of the apartment entirely. As soon as the front door was closed behind him, though, the construction noise stopped and the halls were as silent as they usually were at half five in the morning. He grumbled to himself and headed for the only other place he knew he would be welcome so early.

Angus answered the door sleepily, but smiled brightly when he saw who it was, and Taako’s heart didn’t melt at all.

“Some beheymah is building in my apartment,” Taako said by way of explanation.

Angus looked confused. “Magnus is building something? This early?”

“No, conejito, not him,” Taako said tiredly. “I’m just gonna crash here if you don’t mind.”

Angus blinked and then held up a finger. “One second.” He closed the door in Taako’s face and Taako heard some shuffling and a faint crash before the door opened again. “I had to put away your Candlenights present.” He stepped aside to let Taako in.

Taako was still mostly asleep, so he trudged in on autopilot and had lain down on the floor and closed his eyes before his brain processed that Angus’s dorm room was _spotless._ He opened his eyes and glanced around, taking in the neatly organized desk, the perfectly organized bookshelf, the spotless floor (he couldn’t see a single dust bunny, not even under the bed, which had plastic underbed storage bins neatly lined up side by side). The only thing out of place was the bed covers, and Angus climbed back in bed after snapping the light off.

“Goodnight, sir,” Angus said, already sounding sleepy again.

“Night, pupik.”

Taako woke up sometime later, though in the absence of light (Angus didn’t have a window) he wasn’t sure what had woken him. He could see just fine, darkvision and all, but daylight was usually what woke him up. That or Merle throwing pillow after pillow at him until it was either wake up or suffocate in a beautiful pile of down.

The room was dark and quiet, and Taako almost closed his eyes again but heard a whimper. Angus was still asleep, but his face was scrunched up and his hands were clutching his blankets tight. As Taako watched, his little feet kicked under the blankets and he cried out.

“Leave me alone!” Angus mumbled.

Taako sat on the edge of Angus’s bed and reached out to stroke gentle fingers up and down Angus’s arm.

“Ango,” he murmured. “Agnes.”

Angus’s brow furrowed in confusion for a moment, and then he kicked harder. “No!”

Taako tapped his arm a little firmer. “Come on, zeiskeit, open your eyes.”

Angus’s eyes flew open and he sat up with a gasp.

“Shh,” Taako whispered, and he made a little ball of light hover in the air so Angus could see him. “Just me, chiquito.”

Angus looked around frantically, his lip quivering, and when he saw Taako he lunged forward, arms wrapping around Taako’s middle. He hiccuped and trembled.

“Oh, oh, oh,” Taako whispered, more for the sound than to convey any emotion. “Ven aquí, mijito.” He pulled Angus into his lap and cradled the shaking boy close, murmuring soothing nonsense in fantasy Spanish.

In time he calmed down, but refused to tell Taako what his nightmare had been about, and Taako tucked him back in bed. He fell back asleep in record time, but Taako couldn’t sleep anymore.

Ango Dango, greatest detective in the world or whatever, was a bright kid. Much smarter than Taako. He was a bundle of thinly masked admiration and excitement, and he was very, very scared. Of that much Taako was entirely convinced.

He amused himself for a couple more hours coming up with new Prestidigitation tricks, until he thought to check the time and saw that it was almost time for training, so he woke Angus and headed back to his own apartment to change.

The construction sounds were still going, and Magnus and Merle were sitting at the kitchen table scarfing down cereal like they were entirely unbothered by the invisible jackhammer echoing through the room.

Their training was horribly tiring, but given that it was the eve of a major holiday the Director let them go at lunchtime, and Taako spent the rest of the day hiding out in the basement of the Icosagon working his magic (wrapping presents).

The construction noise persisted until midnight on the dot that night, but before then Taako was so on-edge because of the noise that he told Magnus and Merle to tell him via the Stones of Far-Speech if the noise stopped, and sat out in the quad to wait. The moon base’s weather was the same year-round, so it was a pleasant sixty-five degrees despite the snow covering much of Faerûn.

When the noise was gone he went home and directly to bed, refusing to look for any kind of difference.

In the morning, though, much earlier than Taako was wont to awake on a normal day, Magnus woke him up.

“You gotta see this,” he said, sounding like a kid on Candlenights mor--oh. It _was_ Candlenights morning.

Taako grumbled but got up and pulled on a fluffy bathrobe, his lacy nightgown not warm enough at this juncture of the morning.

Magnus led him out into the living room and pointed at the wall. There, half-obscured behind the bookshelf and blocked at the floor by several pairs of shoes piled up, was a door. A new door. It looked the same as the other doors in the apartment, but it was new.

Taako smiled.

 _“That,_ my large friend, is a new bedroom for our dear boy Ango McJango, and you’re welcome,” he said, turning to go back into his room in a way that whipped both his long hair and the hem of his robe perfectly.

He didn’t know how the Director had managed it, but given that the construction had only taken one day, hadn’t gotten in their way, and they didn’t have to move, he wasn’t going to question it.

Nearly everyone showed up to their Candlenights party that night.

Merle blushed and huffed when Taako gave him the fantasy Hawaiian shirt, and Magnus clapped a heavy hand down on his shoulder when he opened the wood burning tools. The Director beamed when she opened the package containing the galaxy print headscarf and brooch, and she disappeared into the bathroom for a few minutes and returned wearing the new items, really pulling together her whole look.

Angus literally actually cried after opening Taako’s gift and hugged him for a solid three minutes, then gave him his present, an ornate hand mirror enchanted so it said, _“stunning,”_ when Taako looked into it and, _“eh,”_ when anyone else did. Taako laughed and pressed a loud smooch to the top of Angus’s head.

When the rest of the presents had been given out, Magnus got Angus’s attention and he and Merle shoved aside the bookshelf, revealing the new door. Taako had folded a huge blue and white striped bow and stuck it to the door above a nameplate Magnus had spent the day carving and mounting at eye level. In a sturdy serif font the nameplate read

ANGUS MCDONALD  
WORLD’S GREATEST DETECTIVE

Angus started crying again and dragged all three of them into a hug, sobbing gratitudes and horribly emotional expressions of fondness.

Taako grinned when he had made sure no one could see his face doing that embarrassing and decidedly un-Taako thing.

Another Candlenights success.


	2. Casual Offers to Kill Someone, Because We Could, Definitely

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings in this chapter for: mention of joint injury, mild violence, trauma responses (including violent ones), mentions of death, mention of bullying, mention of attempted murder, mention of broken bones, discussion of child abuse and neglect and abandonment

“Alright, Rango,” Magnus said, looking all muscley and intimidating in a muscle shirt and basketball shorts. “First things first, we’re gonna learn stances.”

It had been Magnus’s idea to teach Angus self defense after the fateful bully incident in Neverwinter. Angus had nervously agreed, unable to turn down an opportunity to learn something new. Taako had been teaching him some offensive spells, but Magnus and Merle insisted that wouldn’t be enough if he ran out of spell components or spell slots and he’d need to learn some kind of fighting. Like, with his fists and feet and stuff. Taako wrinkled his nose but tagged along to the lesson anyway and sat primly in the Icosagon bleachers watching.

Merle was there, and Carey. Killian would be joining them later after fantasy physical therapy (she’d hurt her knee last week on a mission but hadn’t had a healer handy, so when she finally got healed there had been some damage done to the surrounding muscles). The Director had said she might stop by later to check in, and Avi sat a few yards away from Taako on the bleachers. It seemed everyone wanted to witness tiny baby egghead Angus McDonald punching grown men in the face.

Magnus walked Angus through some stances, correcting how he made a fist and nudging his feet into the right places, and then brought Merle up as a sparring partner. Merle was far heavier than Angus, but a head shorter, so he seemed a good training dummy for Angus.

Merle brought up his fists and Angus looked terrified but stood his ground.

“Okay, when you’re ready,” Magnus instructed from a couple yards away, “try to land a hit on Merle’s face.”

Angus gulped and took a few deep breaths, then slowly and cautiously stepped forward and swatted at Merle, who easily deflected the weak punch outwards. Taako stifled a snort, but Avi let out a loud laugh and Angus flushed and put his hands down.

“Tune them out,” Magnus said encouragingly. “That was pretty good form, but you gotta put a lot more force behind it and go faster.”

“I don’t want to do a hit,” Angus said, sounding on the verge of tears.

Merle put his hands down. “You’re not gonna hurt me, Ango, I’m hearty Dwarven stock.” He thumped his chest with his fist and it made a solid sound. “Don’t worry.”

Angus sniffled and nodded.

“Try again,” Magnus said. Angus put his hands back up, mirrored by Merle.

Another attempt. Much faster, but still barely more than a toddler’s strength. Merle deflected it.

“Better, better,” Magnus said.

They worked on it for a while and Angus slowly gained confidence. Taako watched, bored but not having anything better to do. Eventually Angus landed a hit on Merle that he couldn’t block, and everyone cheered, even Merle.

Carey swooped in to teach Angus a more roguelike approach to fighting. Soon Taako joined them and Angus was practicing dodging harmless orbs of light Taako hurled at him.

By the end of the lesson Angus was exhausted, but beaming and more confident than Taako had ever seen him.

And then Magnus decided to close with some actual sparring as a test.

Taako cast Enlarge Reduce on Magnus so he shrank to the same size as Angus, though significantly more muscular, and they started sparring.

Angus lunged with a good good right hook and Magnus blocked it, bringing up a retaliatory uppercut which Angus dodged. Magnus grabbed the small staff he’d attached to his back in place of Railsplitter and swung it down, and Angus rolled out of the way. Magnus was holding back, but Angus wasn’t.

Somewhere around the thirty second mark the excited, focused look on Angus’s face melted away and he started to look panicked. Magnus didn’t notice, and snuck around behind Angus for an opportunity attack. He managed to get one arm around Angus’s waist from behind and his other hand wrapped loosely around the side of his neck and Angus shrieked.

He tore himself away from Magnus, eyes wide but no recognition behind them, and backed away quickly like he feared for his life, his hands held like shields in front of him. Magnus finally saw what was going on and stopped, bringing his hands up in surrender.

Taako saw too late that Angus was backing towards the wooden staff and wasn’t slowing down, and as he stepped on it and his feet flew out from under him Taako lept to his feet. Angus screamed and landed hard on his butt, and Merle rushed in from the periphery of the mats to see if he was okay.

Angus, though, still wasn’t recognizing anyone or anything around him and recoiled away from Merle, throwing a hand towards him and casting the most powerful Poison Spray Taako had ever seen him do. A puff of sickly green-grey gas shot out of his palm and hit Merle square in the face, and then he scrambled to his feet and brought his hands up to keep fighting.

Merle coughed and cursed, but Taako wasn’t particularly worried about him. Dwarves had resistance against poison damage, and Merle was heartier than most.

“Angus!” Magnus said, advancing very slowly with his hands raised in surrender. “It’s okay, Angus, you’re okay.”

Angus was breathing heavily, his eyes darting about wildly, body coiled like a spring.

It was almost a minute before he blinked and looked around, recognition finally happening behind his eyes. He slowly put his hands over his mouth in horror.

The Enlarge Reduce spell on Magnus wore off and he popped back to normal size. Angus flinched, but he didn’t go off again.

“What,” Taako said slowly, “in the fresh and fruity hell was _that,_ Agnes.”

“I’m so sorry,” Angus said, his horrified whisper somehow echoing in the silence of the Icosagon. “Oh gods. I’m so sorry.”

Merle coughed again but waved a hand dismissively. “It’s okay, I’m fine,” he wheezed.

Angus sank slowly to his knees, still covering his mouth, and started shaking.

Taako made his way down off the bleachers sans sweet flips and walked cautiously over to the boy. Angus recoiled and edged away from him, so Taako crouched down a yard away.

“Ango, are you okay?” he asked quietly.

Angus just watched him with wide eyes, tear tracks down his cheeks disappearing behind his hands, trembling hard.

“I hurt Merle,” Angus whispered after a long pause, his voice muffled by his fingers.

Taako rolled his eyes. “Fuck him, he’s fine. Are _you_ okay?”

Angus slowly shook his head. He crumpled, pulling his knees to his chest and wrapping one arm around them tight. His other hand came up to cover the back of his neck and he shook silently.

The Director, who had joined them just a few minutes before the sparring match, cleared her throat as she rose from the bleachers.

“I think it’s time you get back to work,” she said in a quiet, authoritative voice, clearly indicating everyone except Magnus, Merle, Taako, and Angus.

Avi, Carey, and Killian quietly left, Carey giving Magnus a soft pat on the shoulder as she left.

Taako waited until it was quiet again. “Mijito, do you want a hug?” he asked softly.

Angus slowly looked up, focused his eyes on Taako with difficulty, and unfolded himself all at once to launch himself at him, latching his arms around Taako’s neck. Taako lost his balance and fell onto his ass, but caught Angus nonetheless.

He rearranged them, cradling Angus the same way he had a few times lately after a nightmare.

Behind them there was a quiet magical surge and Merle coughed one last time, then sighed in relief. “Thanks,” he said.

Taako held Angus quietly, rocking side to side as the boy shivered and cried softly. Magnus, Merle, and the Director came into Taako’s field of vision and hung back. Magnus looked mortified and was wringing his hands in a way that was decidedly un-Magnus. The Director had a quietly concerned look on her face, and she gripped her white oak staff tightly in both hands. Merle was wiping green dust off of his face with his sleeve. Taako twitched his ears at them to indicate they were okay. Merle and Magnus awkwardly sat on the bleachers to wait. The Director covered her mouth and pointed at Taako with her other hand.

She apparently cast Message, because a second later he heard her voice whispering in his ear. “Brief me later,” she instructed, and waited for confirmation before nodding at each of them and leaving quietly.

Taako waited until Angus stopped sniffling. “Hey,” he murmured, and Angus looked up like he thought he was in trouble. “That was some good good self-defense, pits’l.”

Angus smiled wetly and scrubbed a hand over his eyes and Taako felt some relief.

“What’s say we go make some cocoa?” he asked. Angus nodded and Taako helped him up. “Cocoa time, gents,” Taako announced to Magnus and Merle.

Magnus, still looking horrifically guilty, came down off the bleachers and knelt in front of Angus.

“Maggie, come on,” Merle said, tugging on his shirt.

“Hold on,” Magnus said, then turned back to Angus. “Ango, I’m real sorry about grabbing you like that. I won’t do it again.”

Angus sniffled and nodded.

Magnus smiled encouragingly and stood.

“Let’s get our cocoa on,” he said, sounding jazzed as hell.

“Oooh,” Taako said, “about that. I meant cocoa for me and Boy Wonder here.”

Magnus stuck his nose in the air and marched ahead of the others. “You just try to stop me from stealing your cocoa, Jerky McJerkerson.”

“Solid C-plus on that insult,” Merle said.

“I thought it was pretty good,” Magnus whined.

Back in their apartment Merle got Angus a bigass blanket and got him all cozied up on the couch with some fantasy cartoons on the fantasy television while Taako made the cocoa. As the milk was heating on the stove he slipped into his bedroom and grabbed Angus’s personnel file from where he’d hidden it the other day after poring through it. He stuffed it in his shirt and took it back to the kitchen, where he knew Angus couldn’t see the counter from the couch.

He didn’t remember anything like that episode in the kid’s file. Surely anything bad enough for that kind of response would show up in his fuckin’ file. Gods know Taako’s Big Bad Events were in _his_ file.

Keeping an eye on the pan of milk, he opened the file and turned to the bio section.

“NAME: Angus Patric McDonald  
RACE: Human  
CLASS: Undecided  
BACKGROUND: Noble  
DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: 12 January, 1481 DR; Neverwinter, Faerûn  
NEXT OF KIN: Marchan McDonald (mother); Owain McDonald Jr. (father)  
EDUCATION: Neverwinter FancyBoy Secondary School (complete 1490 DR)  
KNOWN FAMILY: Marchan McDonald (mother); Owain McDonald Jr. (father); Arlen Farrow (maternal grandfather, deceased 1490 DR); Alanis Farrow (maternal grandmother, deceased 1482 DR); Owain McDonald Sr. (paternal grandfather, deceased 1467 DR); Gwyneira McDonald (paternal grandmother, deceased 1477 DR); Nathan Farrow (maternal uncle); Beryl Farrow (maternal aunt); Lavender, Elspeth, Maurice Farrow (maternal cousins)  
BIOGRAPHY: Born the only child of affluent bankers Marchan and Owain McDonald, Angus was raised in Neverwinter. Precocious and driven, he graduated secondary school at just 9 years of age. After graduating he left home and lived alone until several months after the Rockport Limited incident, when he joined the Bureau of Balance.  
ALLERGIES: ragweed, dandelions, peanuts, cinnamon, rabbits”

Taako slammed the useless file closed, but because it was paper and a relatively slim file it didn’t make the kind of sound he was wanting. He stowed the file in the highest cupboard shelf and turned back to the stove, furiously stirring the pan of milk.

Magnus came into the kitchen and hovered on the other side of the island.

“You know my rule about hovering, ba’al agoleh,” Taako said without looking up from the bubbling milk.

“It’s only okay when it’s for Levitate,” Magnus recited. He came closer and dropped his voice to a murmur. “I still feel really bad.”

“Well, that happens sometimes when you eat right before a fight, you know that,” Taako replied quietly, turning to grab the cocoa powder, sugar, and measuring spoons and pointedly not looking at Magnus.

“Come on, Taako, what do I do?”

Taako pursed his lips and huffed out a breath through his nose. “Nothing. He’ll get over it. Gods know you’ve done it to me before.”

He hadn’t entirely meant to be sincere, but he rolled a crit fail on his easy-breezy-beautiful check.

There was some kind of weird silence coming from Magnus’s direction, and after a solid ten seconds of just the sound of fantasy cartoons filtering through the door and the faint scraping sound as Taako added cocoa and sugar to the pan, Magnus finally spoke.

“I--what? I have?”

Taako rolled his eyes. “Ayup. And I’m fine. He’ll be fine, too.”

Magnus let out a pained breath. “Taako, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize.”

Taako finally turned to face him, taking the pan and spoon with him so the cocoa wouldn’t burn on the stove. Magnus looked like he absolutely loathed himself, and it was frankly bumming Taako out.

“Listen torpe, I’m golden. Ain’t nothin’ gonna drag Taako down, baby.” He put the pan back on the stove and kept stirring. “My trauma’s already firmly set, baked at 350, the whole nine. No going back on that front. Best we can do is help out Primo in there.”

Magnus stayed quiet and wavered, clearly wanting to say something, then left the kitchen.

Taako finished the cocoa, forbidding himself from thinking about anything beyond chocolatey goodness.

He’d given in and made enough for all four of them, and after pouring it into four mugs he added marshmallows to each. Then he went ahead and plopped the whole bag of mini marshmallows on the tray alongside the mugs because why the hell not.

When Taako went into the living room with the tray Angus took his mug with slightly trembling hands. He stared blankly into the steaming cocoa while Taako handed out the other mugs and Merle sighed heavily after taking a long drink from his.

Taako sat on the couch, leaving a fair distance between him and Angus. Merle had settled in the rocking chair, his feet dangling a full foot above the ground, and Magnus dithered until he finally sat right on the floor.

They drank in relative silence until Angus had had about half his cocoa, then Taako turned off the fantasy television.

“So Ango,” he said conversationally, “how ‘bout you tell us what went on back there?”

Angus took a deep breath and carefully put his mug on the coffee table, then drew his feet up onto the couch.

“I just got startled. I didn’t expect--sorry sir,” he grimaced at Magnus, “I didn’t expect to be grabbed like that. When I was growing up, a little little boy, I was… I was a lot smaller and younger than all of my classmates at school. And they picked on me a lot. I, um,” he cleared his throat and his eyes started getting misty, “I had to change schools a couple of times because, uh. One boy almost killed me.”

Out of the corner of his eye Taako saw Magnus wince and close his eyes.

Angus scrubbed at his eyes. “And when I told my mom about it… she didn’t say anything.” He cleared his throat again, but when he spoke again it was still hoarse. “I had a broken arm and everything. I had to go find a healer all by myself.”

Taako felt his blood boiling, but somehow managed to keep a lid on it.

“Your mom just… didn’t do _anything?”_ Merle asked disbelievingly.

Angus nodded and wrapped his arms around his chest. “The next day the driver took me to a different school and that’s it.”

“What about your father, pupik? Did he do anything?” Taako asked.

Angus winced. “He… doesn’t like me all that much,” he whispered. “I always… I always tried to do good in school, you know, learn a lot, so he would be proud of me. And I graduated fantasy high school before I was ten, but…” He shrugged sadly. “He said I could’ve graduated the year before. He didn’t even come to the ceremony.” Angus closed his eyes, his lips pressed into a firm line to keep them from wobbling, and he hiccuped softly. “I, um. I had to leave the next day.”

Taako furrowed his brow. “You had to leave?”

“Yeah. My dad said… Said people who live with their parents once they were done with high school were freeloaders and criminals and if I stayed he would call the cops. So I left,” Angus said simply. “One of my teachers in fantasy high school lived next door and she let me sleep on the couch for a couple of days until I secured lodging somewhere else. And then I was… I was on my own.”

He laughed bitterly and it was the worst sound Taako had ever heard in his life.

“I guess I was on my own for a long time before that, too,” Angus said. He looked up and saw the others looking at him questioningly. “My parents were really busy all the time. We had a housekeeper who liked me but she was always really busy, too. I don’t remember the last time I had a real conversation with either of my parents.” He fell silent for a long moment. “I don’t know that I ever have.”

Taako cleared his throat which had started to ache like he was holding back emotions, which he was. “Did your parents ever hurt you?” he asked quietly, terrified of the answer.

Angus’s eyes went a little glassy and Taako started to worry that he was going to go all Poison Spray again. But after a few seconds he blinked and his eyes refocused.

“Yeah,” Angus whispered. “If I didn’t get straight A’s. And one time I did a goof at a society party and. Yeah,” he said bluntly. “One time I brought a note home from my teacher saying I’d been beaten up at recess and my dad yelled at me for bringing it on myself. And he. Yeah.”

“What about your other family?” Merle asked, sounding worried and like he was grasping at straws. “You talked about your grandpa when we first met.”

Angus shrugged. “All my family except my aunt and uncle and cousins and parents are all dead. My grandfather died before I got to his house that day, and he was my last grandparent. He didn’t really like me either, though. He wanted me to be an accountant or banker like the rest of my family. My uncle Nathan is best friends with my dad, too, so…”

Merle let out a low whistle. “Damn.”

Taako had to take a few careful breaths so he could speak evenly. Angus’s story wasn’t much like his own on the surface, but Taako nonetheless felt the full weight of Angus’s similarities to himself as a little kid. The neglect, the isolation, the jumpiness, even the broken arm.

“You didn’t deserve any of that, bubbeleh,” Taako said quietly.

Angus shook his head, looking confused. “I did, though,” he said. “I was too different. Bullies only make fun of people who are different. And my dad, he always had this dream of me taking over the bank when he retired. But I wanted to be a detective--I _am_ a detective. And that just really. It disappointed my parents.”

Merle frowned. “You didn’t deserve to be hurt by your parents,” Merle insisted, leaning forward. “Ever. That’s like, parenting one-oh-one. Don’t hurt your kids.”

Angus looked unconvinced.

Magnus scooted a little bit closer. “Angus,” he said solemnly. “This is very important.”

Angus stared at him warily.

“Do you want us to do anything about your family?” Magnus asked.

Angus blinked. “What?”

“They hurt you, kiddo. They tossed you out on the street before you were even a teenager,” Magnus said. “Do you want us to hurt them?”

“Because we will,” Taako said solemnly. “You just say the word.”

Angus’s eyes widened. “No!” he exclaimed. “No, you can’t. You’d get in trouble, the _Director--”_

“Fuck the Director,” Merle said.

Angus shook his head hard. “No, you can’t hurt them. They can’t hurt me anymore, I’m on the _moon--”_

Taako abruptly remembered Angus’s reluctance to go down to Neverwinter for Candlenights shopping. He’d thought it was because of the bullies, but now it occurred to him that the bigger threat was also much more powerful in the city. He who controls the banks.

“Okay, okay,” Magnus said. “Chill, little man, we won’t hurt them.”

Taako deflated a little. He watched Magnus for some kind of indication that he was lying, but saw none. Ugh. So two evil people and their parents and siblings and nieces and nephews who were also evil would walk away scot-free.

Angus went quiet and picked up his now-cooled cocoa. He took a long pull from it, lost in thought.

“I don’t want them to get hurt,” Angus said slowly, “but I also don’t want them to find me.” He took another long drink of cocoa. “I want them to forget me.”

Taako blinked. “You want to feed your shit to the Voidfish?”

Angus nodded. “I don’t have any friends or family or a home down there. I’ve got that all up here. I can just disappear from Neverwinter and no one will notice.”

Taako let out a breath. Magnus nodded slowly, considering this. Merle hummed.

“Can you even erase someone who is still alive?” Merle asked.

Taako shrugged. “I’ve got to go see the Director anyway,” he said. “I can ask.”

Angus nodded slowly, looking more and more sure every second. A kind of calm settled over him, and Taako wasn't sure how he felt about it. Ten year olds shouldn't have to consider shit like this, much less be comforted by it.

Okay, to be fair, if Taako had been presented with the option of disappearing when _he_ was ten (or, well, the elf equivalent of ten years to a human, so like, fifty) he would have taken it and run. So maybe it was unfair of him to think of Angus as too young for this.

“Well,” Merle said solemnly, “whatever happens, kid, we've got your back.”

“And we’re super proud of you,” Magnus added.

Taako smiled gently at Angus. “You're a good good kid, Ango Dango.”

Angus smiled softly, not looking up from his almost empty mug of cocoa. Then he sniffled and crumpled a little. “I love you guys so much,” he sobbed.

Taako let out a little laugh and took the mug from him. “It’s okay, pumpkin, let it out.”


	3. Maybe We're Okay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings in this chapter for: references to child abuse and bullying, mentions of alcohol, mentions of injury, mentions of panic attacks, casual ableist expressions, brief mentions of spiders and snakes, unspoken threats of violence and wishing death on other people, and descriptions of trauma responses

Everyone dressed up for the occasion. Merle looked highly uncomfortable in his suit and tie but he dressed without complaint. Taako expected Magnus to whine about the outfit he picked out for him, but aside from a solemn request for a different tie he got dressed quietly. Taako himself trotted out a new skirt, a long, shimmering black number that was almost opalescent in strong light. He tried to tie a matching ribbon around his Umbrastaff, but it was reduced to ash as soon as he got the bow tied just right.

And Angus, boy of the hour, dressed up in his nicest fancyboy suit. Taako caught him staring at himself blankly in the mirror that evening, his pale pink bow tie folded over one hand.

“Need help with that, chiquito?” Taako asked from the doorway.

Angus blinked and looked at the tie, then up at Taako. “No, thank you sir. I know how.”

Taako grinned. “Good, ‘cuz I was gonna make Merle do it and _his_ looks _awful.”_

That got a laugh out of Angus, and he stayed bubbly until they entered the dome that housed the Voidfish, then gradually grew withdrawn, lost in thought.

The Director and Avi joined them as they got into the elevator, and they were both dressed nicely. Avi tugged at the collar of his shirt and surreptitiously made a face at Magnus. The Director looked regal as _fuck_ in deep blue robes and a silvery headscarf, and a row of shiny white gemstones snaked all the way up the fitted sleeves of her robes from the outside of her wrists to her shoulders.

Carey and Killian, wearing somewhat matching outfits (“Adorable,” Taako whispered to Killian), waited for them outside the Voidfish’s chamber, and Noelle, Davenport, and Johann waited with the Voidfish.

There was a pervasive, solemn silence as everyone filed in. Angus hovered anxiously near Magnus and Taako until the Director moved to stand in front of the small assembly and motioned for Angus to join her. Angus gulped and tripped up to stand beside her, both facing the group.

“It’s not often we allow the Voidfish to erase from the collective memory a still-living person,” the Director began, speaking slowly and deliberately. “But today we are gathered here to do just that for the youngest member of our order.” She smiled warmly down at Angus. “Angus McDonald is a brilliant, passionate young man, and I for one value his input more than most of you hooligans.”

Everyone except Angus, Davenport, and Johann laughed.

“In order to feel safe among us and out on missions he has elected to have himself erased from the collective memory of all those who have not been inoculated and initiated into our order.” The Director produced a small tube with caps on both ends from some sort of hidden pocket in her robes and uncapped one end. She tipped out a slim scroll on fancy paper. “This scroll contains the basic information of Angus’s life prior to his joining the Bureau of Balance. Early this morning Ms. Fangbattle went planetside to remove as many physical records of Angus as she could from Neverwinter.”

The Director handed the scroll to Angus, who gripped it tight with both hands and looked nervous.

“Once this scroll is fed to the Voidfish, no memory or record of Angus McDonald will remain in the whole realm apart from in the minds of those of us in the Bureau. Angus,” the Director said quietly, though everyone else in the room could still hear her. “Are you absolutely certain this is the course of action you’d like to take?”

Angus swallowed with difficulty. He stared at the scroll in his hands, took a deep breath, and nodded, then looked up at the Director as if to check that he had made the right decision.

The Director smiled gently. “Then whenever you’re ready,” she pointed to the slot in the Voidfish’s tank through which Johann fed it, “go ahead and stick that bad boy in there.”

Angus momentarily looked paralyzed with fear. He shot a worried glance at Merle, then Magnus, then Taako. All three of them nodded encouragingly.

“Okay,” Angus said with just a little waver in his voice. Then he closed his eyes, squared his shoulders, let out a breath, and opened his eyes, looking far more confident than he had just seconds before.

He turned and walked to the tank, lifted up the little door covering the slot, and pushed the scroll through. He took a few steps back and looked up at the Voidfish, his hands twisted together in front of him.

Everyone watched silently, their view somewhat obscured by the large stickers peppering the lower five feet of the tank, as the scroll floated just inside the glass. The Voidfish swam up and reached out two tendrils to skim them along the scroll, which unfurled slightly at its touch. Then, in a matter of seconds, the scroll disintegrated and the Voidfish lit up. It was nowhere near the response they’d seen with Boyland, but more than a couple pinpricks of light cropped up along its tendrils as Angus’s parents, his aunt and uncle and cousins, and the bullies who had made his life hell all forgot him, relegated to static memories for the rest of their lives.

Angus let out a breath and his shoulders loosened. He walked back to the tank and pressed a hand to the glass.

“Thank you,” he whispered. Most of the people in the room probably couldn’t hear it, but Taako and his beautiful long ears could, and he felt some kind of Emotion happening. For once, he let it happen instead of tamping it down.

Then the Voidfish reached out a single tendril and pressed it against Angus’s hand on the other side of the glass.

There was a deafening silence for a few seconds.

“Woo!” Carey whooped, throwing her hands in the air, and everyone thawed.

Killian, Magnus, and Avi joined in the whooping and cheering, and everyone started applauding. Angus turned and ran back to the group, a huge smile on his face, and ran directly into Taako’s arms.

Taako let his newfound emotional aptitude rip as he caught him. He couldn’t control the grin on his face or the laughs bubbling up out of him. Angus squeezed Taako tight around the middle until Taako pried his arms off and knelt down. Magnus thumped a big hand on Angus’s shoulder in congratulation, but Taako shooed him away.

“Proud of you, mijito,” Taako said.

Angus’s eyes were full of tears, but he still smiled ear-to-ear. “Thank you, sir,” he said sincerely.

More Emotions tugged at Taako’s heart and he decided that was quite enough, thank you.

He reached up to ruffle Angus’s hair. “Go get hugs from some of these other losers. They won’t be as good as mine, of course,” he warned, shaking a finger in his face.

Angus hugged him tight around the neck once more and then ran off. Taako stood up in time to see Killian and Carey hoisting Angus above their heads triumphantly, whooping the whole time.

The Director chuckled as she stepped up beside Taako, also watching the shenanigans.

“He’s a good kid,” she said, low enough that only Taako could hear her.

Taako shrugged, feigning nonchalance. It was hard with all of these Emotions. “He’s alright.”

The Director suddenly looked right at Taako and caught his eye sternly. He gulped, feeling like he was in trouble.

“Angus trusts you,” she said. “He would do anything for you. The three of you, Merle, Magnus, and yourself, but especially you.” She stared him down for a solid five-count before speaking again, as if to let that sink in. “Do not violate that trust.”

Taako blinked. “I won’t,” he said, a little offended. “Cripes, Lucretia.”

The Director looked back towards the festivities happening around them, but her intense air persisted. “I know you like to pretend you’re some morally-grey mercenary with no regard for others. Your companions can see through it, or they aren’t particularly bothered by the façade. Angus, however, is very sensitive.” She let that hang in the air, leaving Taako to fill in the rest. She looked back at Taako one last time, finally softening some. “He needs some good good influences in his life. He’s got a lot of lost time to make up for.”

She walked away, sparing Taako from having to respond, and he felt a lot of conflicting Emotions happening somewhere in the general area of his chest.

“Well shit,” he mumbled to himself.

“Time to fuckin’ party!” Magnus hollered, clearly having no respect for Taako's emotional whirlwind.

Avi lifted Angus onto his shoulders, causing the boy to shriek, but like, in a good way probably. There was another wave of general whooping and cheering and then Johann got out his fiddle and started playing an upbeat song.

Taako hung back from the festivities, pondering the Director’s admonishment and doing his best to look all broody and mysterious. Merle rolled up, somehow having gotten tipsy in just the last few minutes. His bow tie was undone and hung loosely around his neck, and the top couple of buttons on his shirt were unfastened.

“Why’re you so broody and mysterious all of a sudden?” Merle asked, squinting at Taako.

Success.

Taako straightened up and tossed his hair over his shoulder with a little flick of his fingers. He put his nose in the air. “I'm _always_ broody and mysterious.”

Merle raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms, getting into Dad Mode. “What's eating you?” he asked, his eyes sharp despite the flush rapidly rising up his neck.

Taako grumbled something rude under his breath before giving in. “We’re like, _responsible_ for him now. He's our _kid_ and shit.”

Merle shrugged. “He already was.”

Taako scoffed, trying to act like Merle’s blunt statement hadn't affected him as much as it had. “Yeah, whatever.” He grimaced. “Taako doesn't have kids, or friends, or anything like that. Me, myself, and I, baby.”

Merle patted Taako on the arm, looking smug, like he hadn't bought a word of it, except Taako was a great fuckin’ liar. “Yeah, alright,” he said mildly before walking away and leaving Taako to his brooding.

Taako let out a _hmph_ to no one in particular.

Johann’s song ended and everyone except Taako applauded. When it had died down the Director put up a hand to stop Johann from bringing his bow back up to his fiddle.

“This has been great,” she said calmly, “but this is not the place for festivities.”

“Everyone to the Director’s office!” Magnus yelled, and several people whooped.

“Oh, no no,” the Director chastised. “I was thinking perhaps the Icosagon or your own quarters?” she suggested pointedly.

“Party at our house!” Killian yelled.

“We don't have a house!” Carey shouted in response.

“Party at our apartment!” Killian yelled as she hoisted Angus onto her shoulders.

Everyone started leaving, laughing and joking as they filed out of the Voidfish’s chamber, except the Director and Davenport who hung back. The Director caught Taako’s eye as he followed the group out, and he nodded sagely. She gave him a slight smile.

He could do it. Probably.

Okay. Time to get serious. People were depending on him.

“Y’all got stuff to make fantasy jello shots?” Taako shouted from the rear of the group.

“Woooooo!” someone shouted in reply.

 

* * *

 

It was a few weeks before they saw any of the effects of Angus’s Rites of Remembrance. They’d been working around the base mostly, training and studying and getting that good good fourteen hours of sleep a day (in Taako’s case) and there’d been no sign of any relics planetside for them to reclaim.

It had been pretty boring.

Taako had kept up with his magic lessons with Angus, and Magnus had reworked his curriculum and coaxed Angus into trying self defense lessons again. They’d had four lessons since, and aside from a lost tooth from a misplaced staff (Merle’s tooth, and it had been fixed), a brief panic attack caused by an unexpected second combatant (Angus, and they’d been sure to warn him when Carey would be jumping in after that), and countless bruises, there’d been no injuries from these lessons (physical _or_ psychological).

Angus had been… better. Less jumpy, at least, and he hadn’t been having as many nightmares. And gods, but he was getting good at magic. The other day he cast Charm Person on Magnus at Taako’s urging as a prank but also as an important magic lesson. They made Magnus buy them ice cream sundae supplies and change the fantasy smoke detector batteries. When the spell wore off and Magnus got annoyed Taako slung Angus on his back and cast Expeditious Retreat and they sprinted off to the last place Magnus would look for them: the _library._ When they snuck back into the apartment a few hours later, still laughing about it, Magnus smashed them both in the face with plates full of whipped cream and that was that.

There _had_ been something weird, though--Angus had been dropping little comments every now and then that sort of worried Taako.

“I wonder if my fantasy high school records are still there,” Angus had said offhandedly one day when he paused at the window looking down at Neverwinter.

“I bet my dad would hate it if he saw me doing this,” he’d said while learning to juggle harmless orbs of light a few days later.

“I wonder if my uncle’s dog would still remember me,” he said casually during a pause of Magnus’s weekly tirade about the “no dogs on the moon” policy.

Taako wasn’t _worried,_ per se, it was that… well, he wished Angus would stop looking over his shoulder, longing for the past, whatever it was he was doing. He didn’t have to think about the life he left behind, he had _this_ one _now._

But then again Taako was an idiot so what did he know.

Five weeks almost to the day after the Rites of Remembrance, Taako sat on his bed with his fantasy iPod on the fantasy iPod dock playing _Into the Woods._ He had bits of rock and gems and vials of all kinds of goop and even a dead spider or two among countless other weird things laid out around him on his bed.

Angus came into the room, and only when Taako noticed him did it occur to him that he’d heard a faint knocking under the sound of the Witch rapping about vegetables. He turned off the music as Angus came to stand next to the bed and peered down at everything.

“What are you doing, sir?” Angus asked.

Taako turned a page in the spellbook in his lap. “Inventory, yingel. Gots’ta keep the ol’ spell component pouch stocked.”

“Oh,” Angus said, and he reached out to pick up a vial of powdered rhubarb leaf and turn it over in his hands, studying it. “I never see you doing this, how often do you have to check?”

Taako shrugged, his eyes searching the piles on the bed for the little bag of snake tongues. “Every few months or after a big mission. Just got bored today.”

Angus put the vial back.

Taako hummed and wrote down “snake tongues” on the notebook he had resting next to him. “What are you up to?”

“Nothing. I finished my book and no one’s doing anything interesting,” Angus said.

Taako pursed his lips and decided to test a theory. “I’m gonna have to go into town to pick up some components Garfield doesn’t stock at Fantasy Costco, you wanna come with?”

Angus shifted on his feet. “Rockport, or…?”

“Neverwinter, chulo,” Taako said mildly, pretending to look for something on his bed but surreptitiously watching Angus out of the corner of his eye.

Angus froze for a fraction of a second. Then he let out a little breath like he’d steeled himself, and it ruffled a couple blue feathers on the edge of the bed near him. “Neverwinter. Uh, okay. Sure!” He sounded a little unsure, but more than a little curious.

Taako looked up at him. “You don’t have to go if you don’t want, pupik,” he said gently.

Angus shook his head, evidently having made up his mind. “I want to.”

Taako smiled. “I’m gonna finish up here and then we’ll go. You wanna run and let Avi know what the plan is?”

Angus scampered off, and Taako finished his inventory quickly, then slipped into Merle’s room after putting everything away. Merle was asleep, a magazine open facedown on his chest and a half-empty package of Fantasy Skittles next to him. He was snoring loudly, and Taako nudged him none too gently until he awoke with a start.

“Me and Ango are going to Neverwinter,” Taako said before Merle had even woken all the way up.

“Wha? Huh?” Merle asked in confusion, rubbing at his eyes and yawning.

“Oy, vos a schmendrik,” Taako mumbled, then spoke slowly and clearly. “Listen up, viejo. Me and _Angus_ are going to _Neverwinter.”_

Merle squinted at Taako, then blinked in surprise as he processed what he’d said. “What? Really? Why?” he asked when Taako nodded.

“Well I gotta go, and he wanted to come with,” Taako explained. “I think he… wants to test it out? The Voidfish stuff.”

Merle sat up, looking concerned. “Well, I bet it works, but is that… a good idea?”

Taako shrugged helplessly. “Guess we’ll find out.”

He heard the front door of the apartment open and Angus call for him. He looked alarmed at Merle and whispered, “what do I do?”

Merle rolled his eyes. “Go,” he whispered. “Be supportive. I’ll be around if you need backup.”

Taako nodded and went out into the living room. Angus was out of breath from having apparently run to and from the hangar.

“Just, uh, telling Merle what we’re up to,” Taako lied. “Let me get my list and my moolah and we’ll get going.”

“Go in the name of Pan!” Merle called from his room. “I’ll pray for your safety!”

Taako rolled his eyes. “Un tonto, si?” he asked Angus conspiratorially.

Angus snickered.

As they hurtled through the sky towards Neverwinter Angus folded his hands in his lap and closed his eyes, breathing slowly and deeply. Taako watched him, more than a little worried (not that he’d ever admit it to anyone under any circumstances) and planning an escape route if things went bad. When they touched down Angus stayed frozen in his seat for a few minutes until Taako managed to coax him out.

“You sure, bubbeleh?” Taako asked when they had successfully left the glass ball. Angus was clinging onto Taako’s hand with both of his.

Angus nodded quickly. “I need to do this.”

“Alright then.”

And they set off. Angus clung to him and his eyes darted about wildly at every noise and intersection. There were a lot of people out, but no one paid attention to the small boy acting very strangely. Several people nodded politely at Taako, but they didn’t even acknowledge Angus, like they couldn’t see him at all.

At the apothecary Angus relaxed a little, even letting go of Taako. He wandered the store while Taako shopped, picking up bloodhound fur, snake tongues, lengths of gold wire, and other weird things Garfield for some reason didn’t stock. At the register Angus slipped a little package of lemon drops on the counter with Taako’s purchases.

Taako smiled. “Grab a couple more of those,” he murmured.

“What was that?” the shopkeeper asked.

“Hmm?” Taako asked. “Oh, I was talking to my boy here.”

The shopkeeper looked at Angus like he was surprised to see him there. “Oh, hello.”

“Hello, sir,” Angus said before turning and going to get more candy.

The shopkeeper started to ring up Taako’s purchases, but when Angus slid three more packages of lemon drops on the counter the shopkeeper started in surprise.

“Hey, kid,” he said roughly. “Wait your turn. You trying to make this guy pay for your candy?” he asked, looking like he was about to come around the counter and grab Angus.

“Um,” Angus squeaked, and hid halfway behind Taako.

Taako frowned. “He’s my kid, chato, what the fuck?”

The shopkeeper blinked in surprise, looking immediately guilty. “I’m so sorry, sir, I didn’t see him come in with you.”

“...Right,” Taako said, his brow furrowed.

When they stepped outside after paying Angus moved slowly, lost in thought. He didn’t say anything, though, and Taako deftly steered him in the right direction so he wouldn’t get bowled over by a mom with a double pram.

Taako let him think while he picked out somewhere to eat lunch. Only when they were seated inside the crepe place did Angus speak.

“I think… the Voidfish is inhibiting people I’ve never met from making new memories about me,” he said slowly.

“Yeah?” Taako asked noncommittally.

“I’m not sure. This needs more data before I’m comfortable drawing a real conclusion,” Angus said.

Taako shrugged. “Alright pits’l, but for now why dontcha pick out what crepes you want.”

While they waited for their food Taako laid out some of his more sanitary purchases and explained which ones were used for which spells.

“See, you can use a piece of leather tied like _this_ for Levitate, but I find you get a stronger pull and more control if you use gold wire bent like _this,”_ he was saying when the waitress brought their food, and he hastily cleared the spot in front of him on the table.

The waitress sat down his crepes and then started in surprise when she saw Angus. “Oh!” She turned back to Taako. “I’m very sorry, sir, I didn’t realize your companion had gotten here while I was gone.”

Taako frowned. “Uh, what?”

She looked confused. She pulled her little notebook out of her apron pocket and squinted at it. “You ordered for him earlier for when he got here, right?” she asked as she flipped back a couple of pages in her notebook, then tapped at the page. “Yeah, see, I got the order written down here but forgot to put down that he wasn’t here yet, and then I added that later. Hold on, let me go check with the kitchen. Again, very sorry.”

She left in a rush and Taako frowned at Angus, who looked lost in thought again.

When the waitress returned with a plate and more apologies Taako waved her off with lots of assurances and dug into his crepes. Angus frowned down at his own crepes and poked at them with his fork.

“What’s up, bubbeleh?” Taako asked, his mouth full of smoked salmon crepe. “They get the order wrong?”

Angus shook his head and finally took a bite, though his expression didn’t change.

In the time it took Taako to eat his fill of the (decent, but inconsequential) crepes, Angus ate less than half of his own. Taako frowned but didn’t comment.

“My parents live down that street,” Angus said suddenly half an hour later as they cut through a little park. He hadn’t spoken in almost an hour and had been so lost in thought Taako had had to pull him out of the way of more than one near collision.

“Yeah?” Taako asked noncommittally. Inside he was dying to see what the house Angus McDonald had (kind of) grown up in looked like, but he figured it would be a bad idea to take him by there. He’d get the address from the Director or something and come back.

Angus suddenly stopped, his little jaw set and his hands balled up in fists at his sides. Taako stopped, too.

“Sir, will you do me a favor?” Angus asked, suddenly looking unsure but trying his damnedest to look confident.

“Anything, mijito,” Taako said, and he meant it. Steal the Declaration of Independence, beat someone up, kill a guy? Yeah. Hell yeah.

Angus took a deep breath. “Will you go with me to my parents’ house?”

Taako blinked. Definitely not what he was expecting. “Uh, and do what?” Kill them? He shouldn’t say that.

Angus furrowed his brow in thought. “I just want to… I wanna check that they really, really can’t remember me.”

Taako led Angus to a bench and they sat. Taako turned towards Angus and leaned his elbows on his knees. “You sure?”

Angus nodded, slowly at first and then faster and faster. “I have to know how complete it is.”

Taako blew out a breath. “Okay, pumpkin, I mean, I’ll do anything you want but I just gotta say, I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to go back there. Like, uh, I don’t think they’ll remember so you probably won’t be in any _danger,_ but, uh, just as someone who’s got his own intense kinda backstory I don’t think you going back is a good idea. I mean, you feel me?”

Angus looked confused. “I-I don’t understand, you don’t think--you don’t think I can take it?”

“No, no, that’s not what I’m s--look, alright,” Taako said, sitting up. “How’s this. I go and do the talking and the standing at the door, and you listen from around the corner or something. I just…” He bit his lip to keep from spewing emotions everywhere.

Angus frowned. “You just what?”

“I don’t feel comfortable letting you back near those people,” Taako said in a rush, unable to hold back. “They-they hurt you before, and even though they don’t remember you I don’t trust them to not hurt you again.”

Angus blinked in surprise. “Wow, um, Taako, sir, I… I’ll be okay, I think, but… I really appreciate your concern.”

Taako grimaced, his own words finally catching up to him. “Oof, I really hate emotions sometimes, you know?”

Angus laughed. “I know you do, sir.”

Taako stood and held out a hand. “If you’re sure about this, let’s get a move on. We’ve got one more stop before we head back to the moon.”

Angus lept to his feet, looking determined, and took Taako’s hand.

The house Angus led him to was huge, almost bigger than the bank right across the street. It was made of dark stone and had all kinds of towers and tall windows hung with heavy drapes. Taako wouldn’t have been surprised if the front door was across a moat and behind a drawbridge. It wasn’t, though, it was just a normal (if huge and a little terrifying) front door, with a big iron knocker in the shape of a lion’s head. It jutted out from the rest of the house by a few feet, and was up four stairs.

Taako shooed Angus around the wall next to the door before climbing the steps, and he took a couple of deep breaths before taking the big iron knocker in hand and knocking three times.

He’d made a mental image in his head of what Angus’s parents looked like (tall, imposing, lots of dark, ruffled clothes, pinched faces, stiff hairdos), but the woman who answered the door defied the mental image he had. She was pretty young, and simply dressed. She didn’t much look like Angus, but she had the same dark tan and the same dark, curly hair, and she looked… pleasant. She smiled politely when she opened the door and folded her hands in front of her.

“Hello,” she said. “May I help you?”

Was this… Angus’s mother??

Taako recovered soon enough, and he stuttered out, “Yeah, hi, um, I’m with the… census bureau. My name is… Greg. I’m looking for the McDonalds?” He managed a pretty good bluff check despite his hesitations and the woman bought it.

“Oh, I’m very sorry. Mrs. McDonald is out right now. Mr. McDonald is here, though, in his office. If you’d like to come in, I can take you to him,” the woman offered kindly.

Taako blinked in surprise. “Oh, _you’re_ not Mrs. McDonald,” he blurted. “Okay, whew.”

The woman frowned. “Um, no, sir, I’m their housekeeper, Aila.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and only then Taako could see that they were a little pointy. She was a half-elf. Of _course_ she wasn’t Ango’s mom.

Taako recovered before it got weird. _“Right,_ yeah, sorry, my bad. Um, no thank you, I just have a quick question for Mr. McDonald, it’ll just take one second. Uh, can you… get him?”

Aila frowned in confusion. “Uh, I… suppose. Please wait here,” she said, and closed the door in his face.

Angus poked his head out. He was standing in the grass next to the little porch and his head barely cleared the floor Taako stood on. “Aila’s still here?” he asked, looking puzzled, but also a little happy.

“Guess so, yingel,” Taako said quietly, staying where he was in case Aila came back.

“She was like, my best friend when I was little. I don’t know why she’s still here if I’m not, my parents had other servants that did most everything for them,” Angus said.

Taako shrugged. “Who knows?”

The door opened and Angus darted back to his hiding spot.

The man who stood on the other side looked much closer to what Taako had been expecting. He wasn’t particularly tall, but he looked stern as fuck, with the kind of frowny face that never completely went away. He wore an expensive suit with a ruffled pocket square (aha! there were the ruffles) and he had a dumb little mustache that didn’t suit his wide face.

“Yes?” the man asked, looking annoyed at the interruption. He flicked his eyes over Taako and seemed to linger on the frilly Umbrastaff with a look of disdain.

Taako put on a totally fake smile and prepared to judge the fuck out of Angus’s father.

“Hi,” he said. “I’m Greg from the census bureau, and I just have a couple questions for the man of the house. You are Owain McDonald, right?”

The man huffed. “Owain McDonald the Second,” he corrected.

“Wouldn’t that be Junior?” Taako asked, and the man looked affronted.

“No, ‘the Second’ is correct,” Owain said indignantly.

“Yeah, okay, whatever,” Taako said quickly. “So uh, Mr. McDonald, quick question: can you list for me all the members of your household?”

Owain looked miffed at the slight but seemed to push it down. “Myself and my wife, Marchan.”

Taako made an illusory notebook and pen appear in his hands and pretended to write in it.

“No domestic help who live on the premises, then?” Taako asked.

Owain let out a little huff of a laugh. “Yes, we have hired help who live here, but they are not part of my household. Merely maids and butlers.”

Taako smiled a big artificial smile but inside he was wishing death on this man.

“Of course,” he said and pretended to write some more. “And, uh, got any kids?”

Owain scoffed. “No, I would have listed them among my household, wouldn’t I have?”

Taako bulldozed on. “No sons, no daughters, no nonbinary children?”

Owain was beginning to look even more impatient. “No,” he gritted out, looking like he was trying so hard to be polite again. “My wife and I have never wanted children,” he said, like it was a truth universally acknowledged.

Taako grimaced before he could stop himself. Of course. “Right. So uh. If you don’t got kids, who’s inheriting all this when you die?” he asked, not even trying to keep up the pretense anymore.

Owain looked affronted. “I beg your pardon?”

Taako let go of the illusory notebook and pen and put one hand on his hip and brought the other up to gesture. “Yeah, quick question: you know anything about the Bureau of Balance?”

“Sir, I don’t tolerate this kind of nonsense,” Owain spat, straightening up to his full (not very impressive) height.

“Mmkay, how ‘bout Angus McDonald? You know who he is?” Taako heard a gasp from Angus’s direction, but Owain didn’t seem to notice.

He was getting very angry now. A vein popped out on his forehead. “Sir, stop this at once!”

“Nah,” Taako said mildly, riling him up further. He studied his nails casually. “Nah, ‘cuz you fucked up at being a parent so bad your kid had you erased, so.”

“Sir!” Angus hissed.

Owain shut the door in Taako’s face.

Taako let out a breath, strangely proud. He turned and walked down the steps. Angus joined him at the bottom of the steps, looking dazed.

“You alright, pumpkin?” Taako asked, coming down and realizing that maybe he’d gone too far. Oh shit. Yeah, maybe that was a bad idea.

Angus blinked a few times, and then a grin spread across his face. He let out a surprised laugh. And then another. And then he was laughing so hard he could barely stay upright.

Taako watched, worried. He glanced up at the house but didn’t see anyone peeking out of the windows. Just in case, though, he hustled Angus, still laughing, down the street until they were out of sight of the front of the house.

Then something shifted. Angus wasn’t laughing anymore, he was hyperventilating and crying. Taako hugged him close, but when he made the mistake of pulling back to look at his face Angus’s knees gave out and Taako grabbed him up again, sinking to the sidewalk and cradling him close. Angus sobbed loudly, both hands clutching Taako’s shirt, and Taako ignored the people giving them weird looks as they passed by. He just rocked Angus side to side like he’d had a nightmare, murmuring soothing nonsense in fantasy Spanish.

It was a long time before Angus calmed down enough to sit up on his own, and even then he clung to Taako like a security blanket. Taako rubbed his back as soothingly as he could manage, but he couldn’t wipe the worried look off his face.

“You wanna head back to the moon?” Taako asked quietly.

Angus sniffled, looking exhausted and numb, and nodded. Taako pulled them both upright and Angus wordlessly held up his arms, asking Taako to carry him. Taako hummed, trying to think of the best way to go about this, and secured his Umbrastaff to his bag on his back, then clumsily lifted Angus to rest heavily on his hip, his legs wrapped around Taako’s waist and arms around his neck.

He was small for his age, but definitely too big to be carried by anyone other than Magnus for any extended period of time, but Taako managed to get both of them back to the glass orb in one piece. When Angus was strapped in and they were on their way back, Taako watched out the glass as the hulking shape of the McDonald house shrank smaller and smaller, wishing a meteor strike on Owain.

When they got too high to be able to make out individual buildings, Taako turned to Angus, who was looking a little better. His eyes were still red and he was still sniffling, but he didn’t seem to be actively in a crisis anymore.

“You wanna talk about it, mijo?” Taako asked quietly.

Angus sniffled and sat up a little straighter.

“I’m just… relieved,” he said. “I don’t know why I got all upset. I’m sorry.”

Taako smiled gently. “You know, it’s actually really common? When you get out of a bad situation it takes a while to really process that you’re safe,” he explained, not at all speaking from personal experience, thank _you._ “And then sometimes it just hits you how bad shit was. That sound about right?”

Angus nodded slowly after thinking about this for a long moment.

“But hey,” Taako said, nudging him gently, and Angus looked at him. Taako smiled. “It worked.”

Angus smiled and his eyes welled up again. He lunged forward in his seat and hugged Taako as best as he could. Taako laughed and squeezed him tight.

“I love you, Taako,” Angus whispered.

Taako didn’t even think before he answered. “Love you too, zeiskeit.” And oof, but that would be a great subject for a crisis later.

When they entered the hangar Avi helped them out of the glass ball, tactfully ignoring Angus’s red-rimmed eyes and the big wet spot on Taako’s shirt.

“Get what you needed?” Avi asked.

Angus beamed, looking fragile but elated. “We did.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for reading and leaving such great comments! 
> 
> my wonderful friend wolfgang drew art of ango's rites of remembrance! view it and tell them its great here: http://fireandlifeincarnate.tumblr.com/post/160394830667/angus-let-out-a-breath-and-his-shoulders-loosened


	4. ROG 413: Advanced Stealth Maneuvers; INT 121: Intro to Hiding Embarrassing Feelings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i said i wouldn't be updating until after the finale but i lied, so here's a chapter to tide y'all over while everyone listens (and i write the last chapter). its not much, but i wanted Something here 
> 
> warnings in this chapter for: mild references to child abuse and neglect; mild injury; mention of drunkenness; mild ableist language

“What’s your name, kid?” people would ask. 

New recruits to the Bureau, mostly. Angus didn’t spend a lot of time talking to people planetside. They wouldn’t remember him anyway. 

In the beginning, for maybe six months after the Rites of Remembrance, he would introduce himself as Angus McDonald. Sometimes “Boy Detective” was added. Sometimes it was “World’s Greatest Detective and Your Very Good Friend Sirs”.  

Once, when he stumbled into a new Seeker just after inoculation and initiation, Taako happened to pass by right as he said, “Hello ma’am. My name is Angus Mc--um. Just Angus, ma’am.” 

He didn’t think much of it until Angus introduced himself to a militia captain planetside a month later. Their partnership would only be temporary, but Angus introduced himself anyway, despite the captain not remembering later, mostly to avoid the awkwardness of being the only person not introduced in their first meeting. 

“Hello sir,” Angus said, shaking the captain’s hand. “My name’s Angus.” 

Magnus nudged Taako and raised an eyebrow, but Taako just shrugged back. 

“Angus, huh? And how are you… affiliated with these gentlemen?” the captain asked suspiciously. 

“Uh, he’s our ward,” Magnus blurted, at the same time as Taako said, “my son,” and Merle said, “my nephew.” 

The captain had let it go after hesitating, and Taako held his breath as he rolled the bluff. 

Later that evening Magnus scooped Angus off the floor as he tried to break away from the group to visit the library. Magnus fireman-carried him back to their apartment and plopped him on the couch as Merle and Taako sat. 

“Alright pits’l, what was up with that?” Taako asked casually. 

“Huh?” Angus asked, looking like he thought he was in trouble. 

“You aren’t using your last name anymore,” Merle observed from his rocking chair. 

“What’s up with that?” Magnus asked. 

Angus hunched forward and shrugged, looking embarrassed. “I just don’t want to,” he mumbled. 

“Okay,” Taako said. 

Angus looked up, bewildered. “I’m not in trouble?” 

Magnus laughed. “No, short-stop, ‘course not.” 

“You wanna be mononymous, that’s fine,” Merle said, and only briefly stumbled over the word ‘mononymous’. Shit, color Taako impressed. 

“You could be like, Angus the Detective or something,” Magnus said. “Angus the something, that would be cool.” 

“Alright, cool it, Mag,” Taako said, rolling his eyes. “I know you miss Jess the Beheader but you don’t gotta force her naming conventions on the baby.” 

Angus laughed. “Thank you, sirs, that really means a lot. I don’t know that I necessarily… want to be mononymous?” he said. “I just know that I can’t be a McDonald anymore.” 

The others considered this, Taako in particular Not At All thinking about how mature and self-assured Ango was at just eleven years old. 

“Hey Ango,” Magnus said, looking like he’d come up with a great idea that may also have been a joke. “You wanna be Angus Burnsides?” 

“No, no,” Merle cut in, waving a hand dismissively at Magnus. “Angus Highchurch.” 

Angus laughed and then looked at Taako as if waiting for him to offer his own last name. 

Taako shook his head. “Nuh-uh. There’s only one Taaco, and that’s me, chiquito. You could be like… Angus Buurrito if you wanted, I guess.” 

“What the hell is Buurrito?” Merle mumbled. 

“Family name,” Taako explained shortly, waiting for Angus’s response. 

Angus considered their offers and shook his head. “I can’t decide just yet, but I appreciate all of y’all offering. It means a lot to me.” 

Magnus grinned and clapped a hand down on his shoulder. “No prob, kiddo.” 

Angus hadn’t said anything more about it for a while, and Taako honestly forgot about it in the whirlwind of bullshit that cropped up with the whole Eleventh Hour thing and then the Wonderland fiasco and then the end of the world, what with Lup showing back up, a hundred years of memory popping back into his brain, all that. 

He did go visit Angus’s “parents” a few more times in between the Rites and the end of the world, though. 

The first time he went alone, feigning a hair emergency (he did get his hair cut while he was planetside, but it wasn’t the whole reason for the visit). He disguised himself and camped out on a bench across the street from the McDonald mansion, book in hand and sunglasses blocking his line of sight from prying eyes. He sat on that bench outside the bank for a few hours until the work day ended and the bank’s employees started trickling out. 

That’s when Taako got his first glance at Marchan McDonald. 

She was squat and had a sour look to her, like even the air around her was beneath her. Her dark hair, the same color as Angus’s but straight instead of curly, was twisted into an unnaturally smooth bun at the crown of her head and decorated with a gold hairpin shaped like a dragonfly. She wore a severe-looking outfit: a shirt with ruffled sleeves so white the glare almost physically pained Taako even through sunglasses, a black pencil skirt pressed so neatly she had to have been standing all day because there was no  _ way _ a real person could sit all day and not get any wrinkles in their skirt, and low, closed-toe heels that reminded Taako of old-timey strict librarians on the fantasy television, the kind with glasses that perched on their noses, who carried rulers and shushed people who raised their voices above a whisper. She looked like Angus, with the same round face and strong brows, but that was where the similarities stopped. She didn’t look like she’d ever had a pleasant thought in her life and Taako knew for a fact that Angus had no fewer than four hundred separate good thoughts before breakfast on any given day. 

Marchan came out of the bank after it seemed like everyone else left. She passed right by Taako, paying him no mind, and crossed the street to the McDonald mansion. The door opened before she even touched it, and Taako saw Aila, the housekeeper, smile politely for a fraction of a second on the other side before the woman shouldered past her, all but tossing her pocketbook at Aila over her shoulder. Aila barely caught it, the polite smile fading from her lips as she seemed to steel herself, and then she closed the door. 

The second time Taako came, he brought Merle and Magnus. 

The whole mansion was dark, though it was just after sunset when they got there, and Taako guessed the inhabitants were away for the weekend or something and the staff that hadn’t gone with them had been given the time off. 

Merle whistled when the house came into view. “Dang, Ango really is rich, huh?” 

Taako huffed irritably. “Not anymore.” 

“Mm, good point,” Merle said. “You wanna rob them?” 

Taako considered this, his eyes travelling over the front of the house to gauge how easy a burglary it would be. At one of the windows on the side of the house, perpendicular to his line of sight, he saw a slight haze, like heat shimmering over a fire pit, hovering just on the outside of the glass. 

“Nah, not now,” he said. “They got anti-thief spells all over the place I bet.” 

Magnus was also studying the house, his face screwed up bitterly as he scrutinized the facade. 

“Bad taste in architecture,” Magnus said. “Fantasy Baroque windows and a fantasy Gothic silhouette together? Gross.” 

Taako raised an eyebrow, but Magnus didn’t look away from the house. “....Mkay,” Taako said. 

“Well, we can’t go in, but let’s snoop around on the outside,” Merle said. 

They did that. 

Taako cast Invisibility on them just in case there was someone on the premises who might see them. They couldn’t see each other, so Taako stumbled over Merle and ran smack into Magnus more than once as they prowled around the house. 

The building was much bigger than it looked from the street, as Taako had noticed from the glass ball each time he flew in or out of Neverwinter. The lot was deeper than it was wide, and Magnus and Merle, both from modest upbringings _and_ never having seen the house before, whistled low as they continued farther and farther back. Through the windows on the first floor they could see parlors and offices and a huge, ornate dining room--or at least Taako and Merle could, darkvision and all. If Magnus couldn’t see into the dark rooms he didn’t say anything. 

When they reached the rear of the house they found a backyard with a stable, a pond, and a couple of outbuildings. One of the outbuildings had some dim lights shining through the windows revealing what looked like a bunkroom for the servants, and another had big doors like a stable. The lot really was too big for such a bustling city. 

“Hold on,” Magnus said from somewhere to Taako’s left. “I think i see something through that window.” 

“Are you pointing?” Merle asked from about ten feet in front of Taako. “Because if you’re pointing we can’t see you.”

“.....Right,” Magnus said. “Yeah. Uh, big house, second floor, third window from the left.” 

Taako managed to blindly rummage in his spell component pouch and find a strip of leather he quickly looped around itself. He muttered an incantation and felt the leather leave his fingers with a short, bright flash that somehow they could all see even though he was invisible, and then he felt his feet leave the ground. 

“Are you gonna do it?” Merle asked as Taako rose towards the window in question. 

“Uh, yeah,” Taako said, “I’m already doin’ it.” 

He didn’t know what Magnus had seen from the ground, but Taako’s breath was knocked out of him when he reached the level of the window and could really get a good look inside. 

It was a child’s bedroom. 

Taako wasn’t immediately sure how he knew. There were no toys laying around, and the walls and bed covers were in Adulty Colors And Patterns like beige and grandma floral. There was a big bed with side tables to both sides, a low dresser, a vanity and chair, a desk and rolly chair, a big bookshelf, and a chintz chair with a matching ottoman. A floral rug was spread over the dark wooden floors. It was a big room, but given what they’d seen of the house it probably wasn’t even close to the size of some of the other bedrooms. 

Everything was covered in dust and it had a pervasive feeling of being empty, despite the furniture and linens all being there. The bookshelf wasn’t even completely empty; a few big tomes were left, as well as what looked like a stack of magazines on the bottom shelf. 

“What is it?” Magnus called up. Taako glanced down and was momentarily alarmed when he couldn’t see his companions, and then realized he couldn’t see his own feet and remembered why. 

“A bedroom, ba’al agoleh,” he replied. “Pretty empty.” 

As he said that, though, he realized what had given him the impression that it was a kid’s bedroom in the first place. His eyes had passed over it the first time, like it was irrelevant. 

A set of clothes was laid out on the vanity chair, covered in a fine layer of dust. A grey short-sleeved button-up shirt, a pair of brown overalls with short legs and a lion patch sewn onto the front pocket, a pair of green plaid socks, and a pair of brown loafers. All sized for a nine year old boy. 

This was Angus’s childhood bedroom. 

“If it’s nothing, come back down or look in some other windows,” Magnus called up, sounding impatient. 

“Can't hear you,” Taako lied, and kept staring into the bedroom. 

He looked around again, determined to find more touches of his beautiful magic boy in this cold, impartial bedroom. Only then did he notice that the huge books on the shelf were law enforcement manuals, and what he'd thought were tattered magazines were really file folders, the top one of which had some kind of crest on it. 

Under the bed, it's glimmer just barely visible, was a dusty magnifying glass, and Taako let out a sharp breath. 

_ “Aila saved up one year and bought me a magnifying glass for Candlenights,” Angus had said. His smile had been as dreamy as it was toothy as he stared off into space. “It was gold plated, with a mother-of-pearl handle and my name etched on it.”  _

_ “Sounds cool, chulo,” Taako had said absentmindedly, his focus on the jigsaw puzzle spread out on the kitchen table that had ended up  _ not _ holding a clue about a grand relic like promised, all but ignoring the boy helping across the table.  _

_ “She was the only one who really believed in me,” Angus had said, and then he’d fallen silent.  _

_ Taako hasn't responded, focused as he was on trying to put together the bottom edge.  _

_ An edge piece had been passed to him, and he'd fit it in place with a little dance.  _

_ “Thanks, sugar,” he'd said, the magnifying glass already forgotten.  _

That was the glass. In the dim light Taako could see the faintest gleam of gold, the faintest opalescent shimmer. 

Before he knew what he was doing he had put his hand on the window frame and tugged it open. Some kind of bell rang and he snapped back to attention. 

“Taako, what--” Merle shouted. 

“Trust me,” Taako replied, shimmying through the window, everything in his mind taking a backseat to the sudden overwhelming need to  _ get the magnifying glass back for Ango. _

The instant he was completely through the window he felt a  _ pop!  _ and gravity got a grip on him again and he stumbled to the floor. He glanced down at his feet as he caught his balance, and it took a moment of processing to realize that the invisibility had been taken from him too. 

He heard a commotion from elsewhere in the house and lunged forward, snatching the magnifying glass from under the bed and stuffing it in his pocket before returning to the window and jumping, praying to gods he didn't believe in that Magnus would catch him. He was visible again, after all. 

Taako hit several things all at once, but in the dark and chaos he could only guess at what they were by hearing and feeling. From the somewhat cushioned impact and deep  _ “oof” _ he guessed Magnus was at least one of the things, and the massive weights he felt wrapping around his torso automatically, he guessed those were a pair of arms made strong by a lifetime of woodworking and ripping robot arms off. There was a second impact a fraction of a moment later and Taako’s chin ricocheted painfully off of what felt like bone barely cushioned by muscle and skin a fraction of a second after his forehead connected with something cool and marginally springy, and from the dirt taste suddenly in Taako’s mouth he gathered that they had bit it. 

“What in the…” Taako heard Merle mumble from above them. Taako tried to extricate himself from Magnus’s grip that was somehow simultaneously rock hard and soft, spitting dirt over Mag’s shoulder into the ground. 

Magnus held them still for a couple of seconds, breathing loudly, his arms tightening still more around Taako’s shoulders despite the latter’s wriggling and the alarm still blaring in the house every couple of seconds. Finally he seemed to realize the urgency of the situation and loosened his grip and Taako scrambled to his feet.

“What's going on?” Merle asked as he gave Magnus a hand up, Taako already hurriedly preparing a spell. He barely registered that the two of them had become visible again, too. 

“Escape now, talk later,” Taako snapped, and cast Expeditious Retreat on the three of them as they started running. 

They slowed to a reasonable pace a block down the street, when Merle realized they were bound to run into  _ someone  _ out on the street soon. It was still barely past sunset and Neverwinter was a big city with lots of people, after all. After two blocks, breathing heavily but trying not to look like it, they passed a small group of drunk young adults who cheerfully greeted them. One of them actually asked Magnus if he wanted to join them for the “bowling party of the  _ millennium, _ brah,” but he made a hurried excuse and the youths continued on their way singing Fantasy Backstreet Boys songs.

When they were on a particularly empty stretch of street, far from the McDonald manse, Merle grabbed at both Taako’s and Magnus’s sleeves until they stopped walking. 

“Pardon my language, ” Merle said, "but what the  _heck_ was that?"

Taako gritted his teeth, debating how much he wanted to say. He wasn't exactly _proud_ of how emotional he’d gotten back there, rushing in like fucking _Magnus_ to get an object of sentimental value for someone _else,_ not even _considering_ the obvious anti-theft spells all over the place. Finally he pulled the magnifying glass from his pocket. 

“It was Ango’s childhood bedroom,” he said, holding the glass in his outstretched palm. “I saw this and I--” he cut himself off, waving his other hand irritatedly. 

“Whoa,” Magnus breathed, reaching for the magnifying glass, and Taako’s hand automatically closed around the handle and jerked back. Magnus held up his hands in surrender and Taako forced his hand to open again like a  _ normal person, tonto.  _

Merle hummed. “That’s quite a risk you took there,” he said, and Taako made a face at him. 

“Listen, tipesh,” Taako said, taking back the glass and shoving it in his pocket again. “I don’t know what happened back there but--”

“No, no, I get it,” Magnus interrupted. “You rushed in. That’s where Magnus  _ lives, _ dude. You didn’t think, you rushed in, and now you feel like Booboo the Fool.” 

Taako narrowed his eyes at Magnus, sure he was being made fun of, but Magnus was just looking right back at him, his wide face open and truly sympathetic. “...Yeah, alright.” He squared his shoulders and put his nose in the air. “I’m not giving it back.” 

Merle scoffed. “Naw, no one’s expecting you to. Let’s go,” he said, pointing down the street in the direction they’d been not-running. “The kiddo will be wondering where we went.” 

Taako followed behind them, his hand still clutching the handle of the magnifying glass in his pocket and his mind still seething over the affront to his control. 

Back on the moon they found Angus waiting up for them, curled up on the sofa watching fantasy cartoons with a mug of peppermint tea sitting on the table next to him. 

“You headed off to bed early, Dagnes?” Merle asked as he shed his boots and cloak at the door.

Angus stretched and clicked off the fantasy television. “I think so. I’m meeting Johann early tomorrow morning for a piano lesson.” 

Magnus hummed, impressed. “Piano, huh?” 

Angus beamed. “I missed playing. I took piano lessons planetside when I was little, but I stopped when… Well. You know.” 

Magnus shot a meaningful glance at Taako, who was not at all trying to sneak around the perimeter of the round room towards his bedroom. 

Taako groaned inwardly, stopping in his tracks and taking a step into the room proper. “Yeah, uh, about that, bubbeleh. We, um, took a field trip this evening.” 

Angus nodded slowly. “I know. You went to my parents’ house.” 

Merle’s eyebrows shot up into his hairline. “How’d you know that?” 

Angus pointed to Merle’s boots. “The dirt in my parents’ yard is different from the rest of the city. Imported from the Timpani Lake region. It’s on your boots.” 

Merle cursed. “Well, there goes the surprise.” 

Taako ignored him and came to sit on the sofa. Angus slid next to him and leaned in a little, his eyes a little sleepy. 

“We… Well,  _ I, _ got you something.” Taako pulled the magnifying glass from his pocket, and Angus sat bolt upright. 

“You…” Angus reached out and took the glass with shaking hands. “You went in my house?” 

“Yeah, I, uh, well, I knew it was important to you so I just… popped on in and snatched it,” Taako said, putting on a confident, easy-breezy-beautiful voice. “It was nothing, really, I just--”

He stopped himself when he looked down and saw Angus crying. Shit. Ah, beans. He should not have done that. The boychik wanted a clean break from his old life and Taako just went and--

“Thank you,” Angus whispered, interrupting Taako’s spiral. “Thank you, sir.” 

“You’re welcome, primo,” Taako said quietly after a short pause, his affected voice gone out the window. 

“How did you get it?” Angus asked. "Did Aila let you in?"

Taako stiffened and looked to Merle and Magnus for help. 

“Ah,” Merle said nervously. “Probably best you didn’t know.” 

Magnus shrugged and laughed helplessly. 

Angus nodded and wiped at his eyes, then let out a huge yawn. 

“Aww,” Taako murmured. “ Qué chulo. Alright, primo, bedtime.” 

Angus sniffled and made puppy eyes. “But I’m not tiiiired,” he whined. 

Merle, Magnus, and Taako simultaneously crossed their arms and pulled a Look. Angus blinked and stood immediately. 

“Just kidding, sirs,” he said with a little nervous laugh as he headed for his room (“ANGUS  ~~ MCDONALD ~~ , WORLD’S GREATEST DETECTIVE”). “Good night!” 

Merle snorted and headed for his own room. “Night, kid.” 

“Sleep well, little man,” Magnus called. “Training tomorrow after your piano lesson?” 

“Yes, sir!” Angus responded, and with a little wave at Taako he closed the door. 

Magnus crossed to the kitchen and started banging through the cabinets. Taako just sat on the couch, once again trying to tamp down on what he was starting to recognize as paternal instincts towards Angus. The automatic crossed arms and Look was the icing on the fucking cake, and he wasn’t even going to start on his loss of control earlier in the evening. Taako doesn't care about no one and no thing, after all. 

Ah, what the hell. 

“G’night, mechayeh,” he murmured towards Angus’s door, and trudged to his bedroom to drown his weird mood in musical theatre. 


	5. Local Wizard Just the Worst, Friends Say

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there will be one more chapter after this one, and it'll be a lot. thank y'all so much for reading and leaving feedback. you have no idea how much it means to me. 
> 
> warnings in this chapter for: brief mention of consensual sexual situations, discussions of child abuse, death threats aimed at bad people, references to really bad self-image, discussion of poking around in people's memory, and mention of scars from past child abuse

In the end, they won.

The Hunger was defeated, sent back to wherever the hell it had come from or maybe sent nowhere at all, and the world set about rebuilding.

Things were different now. Better, mostly.

Sure, it was hard to find good cheese for a while, what with all the destruction and agriculture loss and stuff. And that was annoying, but Taako had cooked through ingredient shortages before.

The Bureau headquarters was a mess, but still usable, so Barry and Lup and Lucas moved into the moon base’s newly vacant dorms near the Tres Horny Boys Plus Angus apartment. Lup could apparently phase through walls without her meatspace body, and it was a trip and a half to get used to that, especially when she decided to check up on Taako and Kravitz’s date one night. Ah, well, she’d seen worse than a half-naked half-skeletal grim reaper with fiery eyes and one hand down her brother’s pants.

Lup loved Angus. She delighted in teaching him new spells and watching him puzzle through particularly challenging ones she was letting him figure out for himself. The next time he made macarons Lup apologized again for burning up the first ones and exclaimed over the elderflower meringue until Taako wandered by the kitchen and she surreptitiously chucked a cookie at his head, inciting a Bureau-wide food fight to rival the literal actual apocalypse they had survived two weeks before. After they all spent half a day cleaning up the egg salad front of the war there was a strict no-mayonnaise rule enforced across the whole campus.

Barry wasn’t sure about Angus for a while. He was an awkward lich-man with not many social skills and a penchant for _science_ and _math_ and all that other shit Taako never liked in school. Barry didn’t Get why people were so impressed by Angus until Barry was working at a spare table in the cafeteria on some kind of sciencey shit and Angus came by with a lunch tray, glanced down at the spread of papers and books and beakers, balanced his tray in one hand, and reached down to erase a single digit in Barry’s calculations. Barry frowned at the correction, pulled out a fantasy calculator, clicked some buttons, and jumped out of his chair to invite Angus to sit with him so he could catch him up to speed. After that he took it upon himself to tutor Angus in all the subjects he’d zipped through or skipped while getting his fantasy high school diploma early.

Angus was fascinated by the revelation that Davenport hadn’t always been a Pokemon, and sat with him countless hours getting to know the Real Cap’nPort. Davenport, for his part, made up for the decade of relative silence and talked himself hoarse a handful of times while telling Angus stories, while getting to know the other Bureau members he’d never been able to really speak to, when he and Lucretia squirreled themselves away and Taako just Knew they were trying to put their friendship back together.

Merle finally brought his kids around the moon base and introduced them to his friends. On the weekends Merle had custody the Highchurch kids stayed in another empty dorm nearby, and Angus and Mavis quickly became fast friends.

Magnus divided a lot of his time between volunteering helping put Goldcliff back together and scouring the countryside near Neverwinter for a plot of land near some kind of body of water. He wouldn’t say what it was for, but Taako saw him at Fantasy Books A Million one day buying dog training books, so he had a pretty good idea.

And Taako? Well, he was doing just fine.

Kravitz was spending more time with him, Lup was back, he had his memories again, and everywhere he went people showered him with thanks and compliments for saving the multiverse.

Things couldn’t have been better.

 

* * *

 

Except maybe they could have been better.

Things were great for months, don’t get it twisted. The world was putting itself back together and people were just _nicer._ The Bureau of Balance had been dissolved and replaced by the Bureau of Benevolence, and Taako had bowed out, not super jazzed about getting his hands dirty with their new mission. Sure, he’d help, but he had bigger and better things to take care of. Like merchandising.

He stayed on the moon base for a little while longer, though, while he looked for the perfect house for himself and Kravitz, if he could convince his boyfriend to move up top for a while. A lot of Bureau employees had moved planetside now that they didn’t have to stay super secret, and a large portion of the dorms on the base had been converted to offices. Merle was talking about moving soon with his kids, and Magnus had been spending a lot more time lately building his new house. Things in the Tres Horny Boys Plus Angus apartment were changing.

But Angus… was acting weird. Weirder than all the changes around him should have explained. He was jumpy, nervous. He’d been turning down tutoring and training offers left and right, and when he wasn’t holed up in his room reading he was in the library looking for more books. It was a struggle to get him out of his room for meals, and Taako found himself resorting to cooking Angus’s favorite meal, shepherd’s pie, at least twice a week just to coax him into joining the dinner table.

And then one day it all clicked.

Taako was in Neverwinter about three weeks post-apocalypse, looking at buildings for his new Secret Project, when he ducked into an apothecary shop to get ingredients for a rain shield spell. It was a dreary, wet day, and the spell components he’d had on hand had all been consumed a couple hours earlier when he cast the spell the first time at the first drops of rain. He was at the checkout before he realized that he’d been in this shop before, that first time Angus came planetside after his Rites of Remembrance. The same old shopkeeper was behind the counter, and as Taako opened his purse the shopkeeper gestured behind him.

“Lemon drops are in the case back there,” the shopkeeper said, “if you want to take any to your son.”

Taako froze. “My son?”

“You brought him in here once and he wanted lemon drops,” the man reminded him, and then flushed. “I thought he was trying to pull the wool over my eyes and yours and I snapped at him. I’m real sorry about that, by the way.”

Taako blinked. “You’re not s’posed to remember him.”

The shopkeeper chuckled. “Not sure how I could forget, seeing as how you’re Taako and everyone knows about you. ‘Course I’m going to remember the son of one of the most famous people alive.”

“I-I’m sorry, I gotta blast,” Taako blurted, dropping a few coins on the counter, grabbing his items, and hoofing it, forgetting to actually cast the rain shield spell in his haste.

He nearly sprinted a few blocks until he found the McDonald mansion. A tower had crumbled in the end of the world and a number of windows were still broken, but the bulk of the building still stood.

He couldn’t bring himself to do anything but stare up at the decrepit house and seethe at the thought that the McDonalds could remember Angus again. The security that had come with wiping him from everyone’s memory was gone, and Angus wasn’t safe anymore.

Oh fuck, that’s why he’d been so freaked. He’d figured it out.

Taako paced back and forth in front of the house for half an hour, drenched, trying to think, _think,_ if there was something he could do to fix this. After a long time someone came around the side of the house carrying a smashed wooden picture frame to the curb, and Taako sprang to intercept him.

“Hey, ‘scuse me,” Taako called as the man, a middle-aged human wearing a flannel shirt tucked into jeans, dropped the pieces of frame to the ground and dusted off his hands. “Do you work here?”

“Yes, I’m the valet,” the man replied, then glanced down at his clothes. “I usually dress better.”

“Cool, uh, can you tell me--the people who lived here, did they make it?” Taako asked, barely managing to censor the mean descriptions of Owain and Marchan McDonald that prefaced every mention of their names when he rehearsed arguments about them in his head.

“Mr. and Mrs. McDonald did survive unharmed, yes. We lost a stable boy and the housekeeper was injured, and the McDonalds’ son is still unaccounted for, but my masters are unhurt.” The valet paused, then pointed at Taako as a grin broke out on his face. “Hey, you’re Taako, from tv!”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” Taako said quickly, turning on his heel and storming off.

“Thank you for saving the world!” the valet called to his back.

So not only did the fuckers get their memory back, but they survived an attack that killed thousands, maybe millions of people. They got to live their cushy lives again like they’d never laid a hand on their natural-born son, like they were good people, like they _deserved_ all the good things in their lives.

Taako stormed back to the glass ball and slammed the button that started the ascent back to the moon. As he sat, soaked to the bone, he glared down through the glass bottom of the ball at the ruined city.

As soon as the ball docked in the hangar Taako nearly ran back to his quarters and dragged Merle and Magnus to an empty dorm down the hall, where he knew they wouldn’t be interrupted.

“What’s going on, buddy?” Magnus asked, and Taako nearly decked him.

“They remember,” Taako spat, pacing from one side of the room to the other agitatedly, one hand tangled in his hair and the other gesticulating wildly as he fought to make himself understood.

“Huh?” Merle grunted. He was still half-asleep.

 _“Everyone remembers,”_ Taako said. “All of the Voidfish’s effects are gone.”

Magnus nodded slowly, looking like he was half an inch away from the realization.

“They remember Angus,” Taako said, and they got there.

 _“Balls.”_ Merle screwed up his eyes and rubbed at his brow.

“Oh no,” Magnus murmured, his eyes wide and flicking rapidly as the dominos of the realization fell. “Oh gods.”

“We gotta--we gotta do something,” Taako babbled. “We can’t let them remember, they’re gonna come after him--we gotta take him away, far away, where they can’t get at him--”

“Taako,” Magnus said.

“--or else we gotta _stop_ them somehow, we can’t let them _remember--”_

“Taako!” Merle joined in.

“--or he’s going to get hurt again, and worse, he’s bigger now--they’ll think he’s tougher, can take more--”

 _“Taako,”_ came a third voice from near the floor, and the unexpected addition to the conversation was enough to stop Taako’s babbling and pacing. The back part of his brain recognized the voice before he consciously did.

 _“What,_ Lup?”Taako snapped.

His sister rose the rest of the way through the floor, some kind of concern on her lich-face. She floated a little closer, seeming to peer at him, and then turned to Merle and Magnus.

“Can I get a little sib time, boys?” she asked.

Merle nodded and headed for the door, and Magnus followed after a hesitation, clearly wanting to stay and help somehow.

When the door was closed behind them Lup came close and pressed two hands that felt like solid wind to Taako’s cheeks. He closed his eyes, finding some degree of comfort in the familiar touch despite Lup not yet having corporeal hands.

“What’s going on, goob?” Lup asked, not budging, and Taako let out a heavy sigh.

“I can’t… you didn’t see him, Lup,” he whispered. “When he told us what those fuckers did… he was so scared. And sad.”

“You don’t want him to be that scared again,” Lup guessed.

“Yeah. He’s… real sensitive,” Taako explained.

Lup laughed and pulled her hands away, then half-walked-half-floated to sit on the bare mattress. “I know, dingus, I’ve talked to him. Plus I heard everything the whole time you knew him ‘til I got out.”

“...Right,” Taako said. He crossed to sit next to Lup, pulling his feet up under him and ignoring the frankly upsetting cling of his wet skirt to his legs. “He doesn’t deserve to be that scared.”

Lup raised her lich-eyebrows. “You don’t think that this is maybe a projection of our own childhood onto the baby?”

Taako scoffed, but his bluff roll (with disadvantage, because of crying and Lup was his twin sister) was absolutely dismal and it fell flat. “That’s ridiculous, doofus. I’m just--you haven’t met his parents, alright? His birth parents,” he corrected himself.

“Again,” Lup said, a little exasperated, “I was there when _you_ met them.”

Taako shook his head. “They’re evil, Lup. And not even Lawful Evil, I’m talking Neutral Evil, the kind we take down as adventurers, the kind that _hurt little kids_ because they don’t _fit in_ with the rest of the family.”

Lup cocked her head. “Now I _know_ you’re mixing in some personal experience there.”

Taako groaned and flopped back onto the bed. “I just want to help him.”

“And how are you going to do that?” Lup asked, her voice sounding exactly like she’d crossed her arms and raised one eyebrow.

Taako furrowed his brow and thought. The longer he stayed quiet, the louder his thoughts got, until his palms were slick with a gross anxious sweat and he knew exactly what he had to do.

“I gotta kill them,” he muttered. “No way around it, they gotta die if Angus is gonna be safe.”

“Okay, get up,” Lup commanded, all traces of indulgence gone.

Taako grudgingly sat up, a plan solidifying in his mind.

“Hey, knock it off,” Lup said, flicking Taako on the forehead, and it felt like someone blowing cold air really hard through a straw. “You’re not killing them.”

Taako nodded. “You’re right, he’s gotta do it. It’s his fight--”

“Wrong-o, germà,” Lup interrupted. “No one’s gonna kill them. Not you, not him.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Taako said, his anger refocusing. _“You’re_ the one _I_ had to talk out of doing the _same fucking thing_ when we were like fifty. _You_ wanted to track down Mom and Dad and make _them_ pay.”

“Yeah, I was a _child,_ and I was _wrong,”_ Lup said, like it was the most obvious thing she’d ever had to say.

“What’s so different now? Our parents didn’t stop being shit because we got older, and that has nothing to do with Angus now,” Taako said.

“I was in that umbrella with nothing to do but think for _twelve_ _years,”_ Lup said. “I made my peace with what Mom and Dad did to me. You clearly didn’t.”

“Whatever, loser,” Taako grumbled, getting to his feet and starting to leave.

“You were _right,_ Taako,” Lup called after him. “All those years ago, you were _right.”_

Taako stopped in his tracks.

“You said it wouldn’t change how fucked up we turned out if our parents were dead. You said we’d maybe even be more fucked up if we’d gone through with it,” Lup reminded him. “Because we’d still have those scars, and on top of that, we’d be murderers.”

“Fuck off, I _am_ a murderer,” Taako said, still not looking at her.

“You’re not,” Lup retorted, sounding closer. “Everyone you killed, you killed to save other people.”

“And that’s different from my current predicament, how?” Taako snapped, turning around.

Lup paused and crossed her arms. _“‘Your’_ predicament?” she repeated.

Taako scoffed. “Fuck off, Lup.”

“I know you want to protect Angus," she said before he could try to leave again. “But this isn’t how you do it.”

“And what do you suggest I do instead?” Taako asked. “Make him go back?”

“Gods no,” Lup said. “That’s probably the worst idea you’ve ever had. No, Taako, _talk to him._ Tell him you wanna help and let him decide what to do. Tell him you got his back no matter what. But you’re not killing the McDonalds and I’m not about to let _him_ do it either.”

“You think you’re _so_ wise,” Taako said, finally turning to leave.

“Thinking! For 12 years! I gained _five_ points in wisdom and another three in intelligence!” Lup called to Taako’s back as the door swung closed.

Taako set off down the halls of the Bureau, bypassing the THB+A apartment and taking a random turn every time he came to a fork.

Gods, he hated it when Lup was right. Especially when it was his own words she was repeating.

Fine, he wouldn’t kill the McDonalds. Maybe he’d just… strategically remove a couple of those support scaffolds around their house... Fuck. No. That would be the same as casting Blight on them himself.

Fuck, he had to do the “right” thing, didn’t he. The “morally proper” thing. The “good guy” thing.

Ugh.

But how to… uhh… live with himself? If he didn’t get back at the fuckers?

Taako had somehow made it around to the library the long way, through the vast network of tunnels and hallways connecting all the buildings on the moon base. He was still fairly lost in thought when he rounded a corner, hands stuffed deep in his pockets, and a small, curly-headed mass ran smack into him, sending up a small snowstorm of loose printer pages and a mid-sized avalanche of books onto Taako’s toes.

“Oof!”

“Oh gods, sir,” Angus said, hurriedly fixing his glasses and already stooping to clean everything up. “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t looking--no one is usually here at lunchtime and I just didn’t expect--”

“Ango, tzadik, chill,” Taako said, automatically using pet names despite his preoccupation. He reached down and tugged Angus upright. “Hey, remember? Magic?” he asked, pulling out his wand.

Angus took a breath and nodded, looking like he was fighting to focus on something outside of whatever was going on in his head. He clumsily pulled out his own wand, a cutesy plastic number Lup had found for him planetside. It had green stripes.

“Go ahead,” Taako encouraged, and Angus furrowed his brow as he cast Mage Hand. It looked like it was taking more effort than usual, but it was also taking Taako an impressive amount of effort to not gather up the kid in his arms and pledge to keep him safe, so he guessed he was one to talk.

Slowly the spectral hand began stacking the books, and Taako watched, amazed, as the papers all around them started gathering themselves up as if controlled by a number of other invisible hands, even looking like they were sorting themselves into the correct order. Taako hadn’t taught Angus that. Taako didn’t know how to _do_ that. 

“Hold up,” Taako said, and everything paused. Angus looked up, confused. “How are you doing that?”

Angus blinked and looked, surprised, at his wand, then seemed to remember something. “Oh, right, um, I hope it’s okay, I’ve been--um, don’t think I’m ungrateful for you teaching me magic!--but I’ve been, um, developing my own spells? Or, I guess, modifying ones I already know, I mean, I don’t know how to make my _own_ spells...”

Taako blinked, a plan falling into place. He was poised to rush off and figure this shit _out,_ but he caught a look at Angus’s face and saw a nervous kid looking for approval from his favorite mentor, and he just couldn’t leave like that.

“That’s great, Agnes, I’m proud of you,” Taako said gently, putting a soft hand on his shoulder and smiling. “You gotta show me that trick later, ‘kay?”

Angus beamed and stooped to pick up the books and papers, now stacked neatly at his feet. “Thank you, sir.”

“Listen, Lup’s making dinner tonight but I expect to see you at the dinner table, yeah?” Taako said firmly. “Six-thirty, our place.”

“Yes, sir,” Angus said.

“Alright, see you there, jefe,” Taako said, turning to go, the wheels in his head already turning.

He was forbidden from causing the deaths of the McDonalds (and he had every intention of listening to Lup--not only was she right, ugh, but she would be horrible to live with if he did it anyway), but the issue was only partially that they had survived the apocalypse. The issue was them remembering Angus.

The Voidfish was gone, and its effects with it. Nothing to do about that. Finding another Voidfish or anything else in this world that could replicate its effects would be near impossible.

So he’d have to magic this shit.

There was one spell, Modify Memory, that had the power to erase memories. Maybe there were others, but he only had access to Wizard spells and he wasn’t about to ask Merle if there were any memory spells in the Xtreme Teen Bible, and there sure as hell weren’t any _other_ magic users around who weren’t wizards.

Modify Memory had a catch, though. Or, two catches.

The first was that the event modified, deleted, or inserted had to be less than ten minutes long. The second was that the event had to have happened in the last 24 hours.

Both things meant Taako couldn’t erase Angus from the McDonalds’ memory using any existing spells.

But that didn’t mean he couldn’t _make_ a spell himself for that purpose. He was Taako. _From TV._ He’d given some rando awesome powers through the clever application of tasty tacos, and said rando was from a dimension that _didn’t even have magic._

He could easily make a memory-of-a-specific-person-erasing spell that lasted forever. Hah. Piece of cake. And then Angus would be safe and could get on with his life as the world’s greatest wizard detective.

…Okay, but _how._

 

* * *

 

In the end it took a solid week to make any progress on the spell. Taako put off his search for houses for him and Kravitz and for buildings for his secret secret new school and squirreled himself away to work on this new project. He worked from, like, ten in the morning to ten in the evening. He was only getting _nine_ hours of sleep a night instead of his usual fourteen, and he was _exhausted._

It didn’t help that he had no one to practice his attempts on. His friends were too squeamish to let him poke around in their brains, especially after getting their memories back the first time, and randos off the street looked terrified when he asked. Training dummies didn’t work because they didn’t _have_ memories, and animal brains were just too different.

In the end Taako only convinced Robbie to help him out because he’d researched the fuck out of memory spells and figured out how to do it probably without wiping his whole mind, and even then he’d had to bribe Robbie with a promise of two dozen cans of Pringles.

He picked a really specific memory to test against. They went down to Neverwinter and Taako pointed out a very distinctive-looking gentleman who looked like Ron Perlman. Taako did some “digging” and told Robbie all kinds of fakey-fake bullshit about the dude and his connection to Robbie going way back to fantasy preschool. Then they went back to the moon and talked about the guy for a long time.

Then they waited. 25 hours.

As soon as Taako cast the spell he asked Robbie if he remembered Anton Bluetongue (the fake name Taako had given the guy).

“Yeah, man,” Robbie said, and Taako cursed.

“Tell me about him,” Taako commanded when he regained control of himself enough to keep researching.

“Uhhhhhh. Married at twenty-three, eight kids, works at the fantasy post office,” Robbie listed off.

“What’s he look like?”

Robbie’s eyes went wide and he looked down, looking lost and a little scared. “I don’t remember. Was he a halfling?”

“No,” Taako said gleefully.

 _Something_ had worked. He was doing it!

“Okay, m’dude,” Taako said quickly. “Uh, the little girl,” he prompted, thinking back to their trip to Neverwinter and a kid who had fallen down in front of them and had a good, loud cry about her skinned knee. “Her name’s Lily O’Connor,” he said, spinning another web of lies. “She’s seven, and--”

The door to the empty dorm room opened and Angus walked in. He jumped and nearly dropped the haversack he’d unshouldered.

“Oh! Sorry sirs, this room is just. Usually empty,” Angus said quickly.

“It’s no problem, little dude,” Robbie said. “We’re just chilling, you can work in here if you want.”

Angus smiled and went to the desk and started pushing aside some of Taako’s papers to make room for his own. Taako watched, his secret anxiety spiking, as Angus paused and picked up one of the pages.

“‘Must last forever’?” Angus quoted. “‘Wipe whole person from memory.’” Angus looked up from the page at Taako, a troubled expression on his face. “Sir?”

“Uh, Robbie, beat it, we’ll pick up later,” Taako muttered, and as Robbie left he gestured Angus over to the little sofa in the corner. “I’ve been… working on a new spell,” he began, trying to keep his voice light and breezy.

“A memory spell,” Angus said. “Those are illegal, sir.”

Taako waved his hand dismissively. “‘Illegal’ doesn’t always mean ‘wrong,’ bubbeleh. Sometimes you gotta bend the rules to help people.”

“This memory spell,” Angus said slowly, waving the paper slightly, “what’s it for?”

Taako had a long internal debate with himself over whether he should tell the kid before the spell was ready. Something something getting his hopes up and all. Angus watched him, his eyes sharp and perceptive, and Taako was sure he knew what exactly the spell was and what it was for.

Well, no good leaving him in the dark now.

“It’s for you, mijito,” Taako said. “I know you’ve been… I know your birth parents remember you again. This is… to keep you safe the same way the Voidfish kept you safe while it was here.”

Angus stared at the page in his hands for a long time, looking like he was having his own internal debate.

“I know you figured it out,” Taako murmured. “Ages ago. I’m sorry I was such a dummy it took me this long to work it out myself. I wanted to make it up to you.”

“No,” Angus said softly.

“Huh?”

“No, sir,” Angus repeated, a little louder, and he handed Taako the paper a little more forcefully than necessary.

“What is it, you see a mistake?” Taako asked, looking over the calculations on the bottom of the page. “I was never good at math, so I guess I--”

“You can’t,” Angus said, sitting up straight.

Taako slowly looked up from the page.

“That’s not how it works, sir,” Angus said, trembling but holding firm despite it. “I can’t erase their memories.”

“Well, not _yet,”_ Taako said. “I’m working on it, and then you’ll be safe--”

“Sir,” Angus repeated. “I’m not erasing them.”

Taako frowned, starting to realize what Angus was getting at. “You did it before,” he said, not meaning for it to come out as argumentative as it did.

“I was wrong,” Angus said, standing up. “I was running. I can’t keep running away.”

Taako blinked. “Well, you can’t kill them, either. I’ve been expressly forbidden from _that,_ and you have too by extension.”

“No!” Angus cried. “That’s not what I mean either!”

“Ango,” Taako said quietly, also rising. “You can’t just let them go around remembering you. We hafta _work_ in Neverwinter. What if you run into them? And they hurt you?”

“Then they hurt me,” Angus said, sticking his nose in the air to unsuccessfully hide the tremble in his chin. “I can’t keep running, Taako. I have to learn to live with my childhood. I can’t erase what happened.”

“Baby, you _could,”_ Taako said desperately. “You could _forget_ all the bad shit they did. You could make sure they never hurt you again. You could live without flashbacks, without remembering where your _scars_ came from, without being scared to come across your dad, or your uncle, or your grandmother--”

“Sir,” Angus interrupted quietly. “I don’t have any scars.”

Taako closed his mouth and one hand automatically dropped to his stomach to cover a tender spot near his bellybutton.

Ah, great. He was projecting. Again.

“I’m thinking of someone else,” he muttered.

Angus came close and smiled a sad little smile up at Taako.

“I really appreciate you wanting to help, sir,” he said. “But I just… I can’t in good conscience erase their memories. I just hafta learn to live with what they did to me. I can’t change any of it. I don’t want to.”

Taako opened and closed his mouth a few times, frankly a little stunned.

“Oofa doofa,” he muttered after a long pause. “Am I just a big idiot?”

Angus looked like he was really considering answering honestly, but luckily for him he smiled kindly. “No, sir,” he said. “I think you’re just doing what you would’ve wanted someone else to do when _you_ were a kid.”

Taako started to think about that but decided here in this empty dorm room was probably not a good place for a crying jag so he put that away for a bit. He put a hand on Angus’s head.

“Maybe so. Thanks, mechayeh,” he mumbled.

Angus hugged him around the waist, and Taako was surprised to realize that Angus now reached midway up his chest. He frowned and pulled Angus back to peer at him.

Angus looked a little afraid at the expression.

“Are you having a growth spurt?” Taako asked suspiciously.

Angus blinked and looked down at the floor as if he was checking to see if his feet were any farther away than he remembered them being.

“Maybe?” he said. “My pants are getting kinda short, I guess.”

Sure enough, the boychik’s pant legs were about two inches too short, exposing tartan socks.

“Well, shit, conejito, let’s go shopping,” Taako said, not altogether in a hurry to get into the ‘uncomfortably real with his emotions and repressed childhood trauma’ part of the evening.

“Oh! Um, sure, sir, that sounds fun!” Angus said, taking a second to really get into it, and Taako realized he was probably still reeling from the whole ‘let’s erase your parents’ memories forever’ thing. Welp.

“Maybe we can get Lup to come with,” Taako said as he headed for the door. Lup had gotten her physical form back a couple days prior and was currently sharing Taako’s wardrobe and  _neither_ of them were about it.

Angus stopped and grabbed at Taako’s shirt. “Oh, um, sir?”

“Hmm?”

“Can we go to Rockport or Goldcliff?” Angus asked nervously. “Just, um, not Neverwinter?”

Taako smiled encouragingly. “Sure thing, pits’l.”


	6. Maybe the Real Family Was the Friends We Made Along the Way

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank y'all so much for sticking with me on this long-ass ride! you guys have been great. you'll see more of me in this fandom, so subscribe if you like my stuff (or the show leverage, which, if you haven't seen it, what are you even doing with your life )
> 
> warnings in this chapter for: vague death threats, references to past child abuse, discussions of child neglect, brief discussions of injury with resulting permanent disability, and like, so much arguing

Lup forbade Taako from killing Marchan and Owain McDonald. So they stayed alive.

Angus forbade Taako from erasing their memories. So they remembered.

Taako wasn’t happy about it, and he probably would never be, but after a good long think (during which he had a nice long look at his own Childhood Issues And Resulting Complexes and boy was that a fun night) he started to Get It. Something something not stooping to the level of evil people, something something that’s not how it works in the real world, something something it wasn’t His Place to decide the revenge on someone else’s parents, something something wanting to be a good role model for an impressionable youth.

Yadda yadda, whatever, he was a good person now.

Still, it was nagging at him that the McDonalds would never know what became of their son. Serves them right for kicking him out at such a young age and all, they were no longer entitled to that knowledge, but they’d never find out just how good their boy had become, how kind and compassionate and talented.

Taako just really, _really_ wanted to rub it in their faces that Angus chose _him_ and his friends over his own parents. Gods, he wanted to see the looks on their faces when they found out Angus played a major role in ending the fucking apocalypse.

But Angus didn’t talk about it at all for a couple of months, so Taako kept that growing need to himself.

Magnus was almost finished with his construction project, a huge farmhouse on a big plot of land near Iris Waters Lake, about a five-hour train ride from Neverwinter. He’d finished most of the interior, so he was mostly living there, and Angus went to visit him a couple times a week. Each time Angus came back to the moon exhausted, covered in sawdust or paint splotches, and chattered about his day to Taako and Lup and anyone else who would listen.

Taako had bought up a nice house in Neverwinter and was taking his time boxing up his room on the moon base before he moved. To be honest, he was dragging his feet a little, buying time for Kravitz to persuade the Raven Queen to let him live up top, but also to make sure wherever Angus ended up was good enough. At this point it was looking like Angus would just stay on the moon base with Lucretia and Lucas and the Regulators, but each new Bureau of Benevolence employee had to be vetted by Taako and Lup, to make sure they would be a Good Influence.

Merle and his kids had moved out a month ago. They were living pretty far away, but they called now and then. Mavis and Angus were exchanging letters all the time, and Angus tried to hide the goofy grin he got when a new letter came for him in the mail.

The day before Merle left, he knocked on Taako’s door and let himself in before Taako could respond. It was mid-afternoon, so he didn’t have any, ahem, _overnight guests,_ but he still glared at Merle.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“I just wanted to talk, can’t we just talk once in a while?” Merle said, spreading out his hands in the picture of innocence, weakened a little by the eye patch and “Foxy Grandpa” tshirt he wore.

Taako rolled his eyes and pulled himself to a sitting position, putting aside his latest issue of _Teen Rogue._ “What do you want, viejo?”

Merle closed the door behind him after peeking out into the living room a final time and took a couple running steps to launch himself onto the bed next to Taako, who grumbled and took a big scoot in the opposite direction.

“It’s about Angus,” Merle said, reaching out and putting a gnarled wooden hand on Taako’s knee.

“Hell yeah, that’s my boy, what’s up?” Taako said, casually swatting away Merle’s hand.

Merle sighed and took his hand back. “I’m leaving tomorrow,” he said, and Taako waited for him to get to the interesting part. “So he’s with you and Mag for now.”

“Yeah,” Taako said, not liking where his brain was taking the conversation.

“You don’t know anything about childcare,” Merle said with a casual shrug.

“Not true,” Taako said, more than a little offended. “I rented _Chicken Little_ just last night for Ango and your spawn.”

Merle raised his eyebrows at Taako.

“Fine, I illegally downloaded it,” Taako admitted. “But at least it wasn’t _X-Files_ this time.”

“Mookie is still afraid of shoulder pads,” Merle said pointedly.

Taako gestured to his closet. “Well, he’s gonna hafta get over that, because Lup and I got some doozies coming.”

“My _point_ is,” Merle said, “Mag is moving soon, too. So you and Agnes are going to be on your own. Can you handle being a single parent?”

Taako hated the smug eyebrow tilt Merle was doing at him, and he scoffed. “Uh, yeah, I think I can. Can _you?”_

Merle winced and Taako maybe felt a little bad about it. Maybe.

“Dunno. Guess we’ll see,” Merle said.

Taako let out a short sigh, not pleased at all with how sincere Merle was being and how it was making him want to kind of be sort of sincere, too. Gross.

“I’m not his dad, tipesh. I’m just his super cool uncle or something,” Taako said.

“Two minutes ago you said he was your boy,” Merle reminded him, and Taako cursed internally.

“Yeah, I did,” Taako said, scrambling to justify this position he’d put himself in. “That doesn’t mean--ugh. Just. Go read a book, viejo. Get with the times.”

Merle hopped down from the bed. “He trusts you, Taako,” he said simply, “and he’s just a little kid. He can’t live on his own.”

“Done it before,” Taako pointed out. Angus had lived in Neverwinter alone for nearly a year between getting kicked out of his childhood home and joining the Bureau.

“And he ended up on a murder train,” Merle said. He put his hand on the doorknob. “Kids need stability, mishpacha. Even genius prodigy ones.” He gave Taako a little grin and left.

“You used ‘mishpacha’ wrong,” Taako called after him, but Merle was gone. Taako pouted to himself, not at all pleased with anything happening in his general vicinity. “Rotten old man,” he grumbled to himself.

When he had grown tired of moping by himself, he slid off his bed and went off in search of his sister. He found her in the little kitchen of her and Barry’s apartment, puzzling over a cookbook. She didn’t look up when Taako walked in and he draped himself over her shoulders.

“‘Sup, dweeb?” she asked, reaching up to flick his forehead.

“Am I a good dad?” Taako asked, forgetting to lead with a greeting like a normal person.

“Kinda,” Lup said, making a note in her cookbook. “Better than average, at least. Student teacher conferences getting you down?”

“What?” Taako asked, puzzled.

“It’s a joke, am ha’aretz.”

“If you say so.” Taako sighed heavily and stopped leaning on Lup’s back, instead slouching against the cabinets to one side of his sister. “Merle had to go and give me ‘fatherly advice’ about how kids ‘need stability’ or whatever. Like, I’m not a dummy, I know kids need stuff.”

Lup made another mark in her cookbook. She hadn’t even looked up once since Taako walked in. “You’re not a dummy?”

“Shut the balls up, lengua larga,” Taako said. He sighed again, heavier, but Lup didn’t bat an eyelash. “Am I ‘sposed to take Agnes with me when I move? I don’t have a spare bedroom at my new house.”

“I thought it was a three-bedroom house.”

“Well, yeah,” Taako said with a scoff. “Master bedroom. Walk-in closet. Potion room.”

Lup finally looked up, but it was only to look highly disappointed in Taako, and he found he’d rather she not give him any attention at all than be on the other end of that look.

“Do your potions at the kitchen table like everyone else,” she said. “You’re being a baby, nen.”

Taako put a hand to his chest, offended. “Me? A _baby?_ I’m _older_ than you.”

“You _know_ we never found that out for sure,” she said, poking her pencil eraser into his chest. “And it doesn’t matter. You’re being a baby, and the baby baby is going to suffer for it.”

Taako blinked and dropped his hands, admittedly a little startled. “Suffer?”

Lup shrugged and turned to the counter again. “Maybe too strong of a word, but you’re not doing him any favors. You gonna raise him or not?”

Taako opened and closed his mouth several times, distantly glad Lup wasn’t watching his fish impression. “I. D-don’t know?” he sputtered out finally.

Lup made a final mark in her book, crossing out an entire step of the recipe, and flung out a hand back behind her. A moment later a soup pot flew into her hand and she sat it on the stovetop. “Better figure it out soon. Mag’s gonna need to plan Ango’s room in the new house if he’s moving in.”

Taako groaned. “You’re no help.”

Lup gave him that Look again, and Taako withered. “You’re just putting off thinking about tough stuff. I’m not making big decisions for you. Angus needs at least one reliable parent figure, not just a dozen cool aunts and uncles, and I know Magnus would step up if you asked him.”

Taako pouted. He had half a mind to storm off and mope on the quad, but Lup was about to make homemade ravioli and he wanted in on that action.

“Miss Lup, ma’am?” came a familiar voice from the hallway alongside a soft knock, and Taako nearly bolted away except Lup reached out and caught his forearm in a vice grip. She leveled another _Look_ at him.

“You could be a great dad, germà,” she whispered. “But you gotta sort your shit out.”

She let go of Taako and put on a genuine smile as she turned towards the door. “Come on in, bubbeleh!”

Angus came in, quivering with excitement, and his grin only got wider when he saw Taako there. “Are you helping with the ravioli, sir?”

“He’s _watching,”_ Lup said, reaching for a pair of aprons hanging on a nail by the fantasy refrigerator and handing one to Angus. “And please don’t call me ‘ma’am’, estimat.”

“Actually,” Taako said, not trusting himself to be level-headed around his maybe-kid at the moment, “I’ve got a… reason to not be here. Bye,” he said quickly, and skedaddled.

He paced around for like an hour, muttering and gesticulating to himself, and then went straight home and to bed.

He hadn’t come to a decision yet.

So here he was, a month after Merle and his children left the moon base, still unsure if he was gonna sign some papers and be a Real Dad. He hadn’t talked to Magnus, but there was a guest bedroom in the farmhouse that Mag was letting Angus design, so maybe the decision had already been made?

Fuck. Fuuuuuck.

 

* * *

 

“Okay, I can’t take this anymore,” Taako snapped to no one in particular, rising suddenly from the sofa where he’d been fidgeting and trying to watch whatever it was Kravitz had put on the fantasy television. They’d just moved into their new house a couple weeks ago and Taako’s nice pillows he liked to fidget with hadn’t been unpacked yet.  

“Oh, uh,” Kravitz said, blinking and starting to get up. “I thought you were fine with Fantasy HGTV. I can turn it off, we can--”

“Not that,” Taako interrupted with an irritated flick of his fingers. A small jet of sparks flew from his fingertips as he did and he clenched his fists and stuffed his hands deep in his pockets. Kravitz, now concerned and confused, sat back down. “I’ve gotta talk to Ango,” Taako said, looking away from his boyfriend as he felt his ears heat up.

“Okay,” Kravitz said helplessly. “I can teleport us to wherever he is. Are you… okay?”

Taako let out a short huff through his nose. “I will be.”

Kravitz thankfully didn't press the issue, and when they'd teleported a couple different places and finally found Angus at Magnus’s farmhouse, Kravitz casually wandered out to the backyard to say hi to Mag’s new puppies. Magnus, once recovered from the shock of his best friend and the grim reaper turning up in his kitchen uninvited, followed Kravitz and left Taako alone.

“Ango’s in the living room,” Magnus said on his way out, slapping Taako on the shoulder and nearly making him fall.

“Beheymah,” Taako muttered, rubbing his shoulder as he made his way to the living room.

He knocked softly on the doorjamb and instantly regretted it when a bassett hound he didn't even know was here lifted her head and began sounding the alarm, echoed by at least two dogs elsewhere in the house and even more outside.

Angus laughed merrily, shushing the bassett between giggles. “Sometimes there's a doorbell on the fantasy television and we miss a whole episode to barking,” he told Taako by way of greeting. He sat in a squat, overstuffed, plaid armchair with a book open in his lap and his glasses had been laid aside on a small table while he read, but when the dogs quieted he grabbed them up and put them on, smiling across the room at Taako.

“Hey, pumpkin,” Taako said, starting to lose his nerve. The kid looked so… content here, in that ugly-ass chair, a droopy-ass dog drooling on his feet, a bookshelf across the room full of his own books and no others. “Got a minute?” he asked anyway, powering through.

“Of course, sir!” Angus closed the book in his lap and set it aside as he gestured for Taako to take one of the other ugly chairs in the room. Now that he was looking, there were at least half a dozen armchairs here, all different, with no discernible theme. Ew.

Taako sat in the least-offensive chair, a stylish black boxy armchair with just the right sink and rainbow flecks all over it, giving it a nice opalescent look.

“How's the school coming?” Angus asked.

“Just fine, pupik. Um,” he said, hesitating but determined to not chicken out. “Listen, mijito, I, uh. Have you… talked to your birth parents recently?” he asked.

Angus blinked in surprise. “Oh. Um. No sir.” His brow furrowed and he looked troubled. “Not since I left home. I don't really think about them much anymore.”

Taako kicked himself. And then crossed his legs so he wouldn't be tempted to do it again because that hurt. Angus’s eyes went unfocused and he looked down at the ground.

“I'm sorry, conejito. It's just been on my mind lately,” Taako said. “I shouldn't’ve--I’m sorry. I'll leave it alone. Have you talked to Mavis lately?”

“I wonder what they know,” Angus said quietly, overlapping with Taako’s question like he hadn't heard  a thing.

“Hmm?”

Angus blinked and his eyes again focused on Taako. “Oh! Sorry, sir. I just…” He let out a little embarrassed laugh. “I never really got any closure with them. I was just thinking, on the Day of Story and Song, did they just hear the century story or did they… find out about me, too.”

Taako let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. “Do you want. To go see them, to ask?”

Angus shook his head hard and fast. “No. Not. Not yet.”

“Well, shit, bubbeleh, you don't gotta see them at all if you don't want. Ever,” Taako said with what he hoped was an encouraging smile. “But, uh, just outta curiosity, hypothetically, if me and the gang went, would you be okay with that, and hypothetically, would you want to know?”

The corner of Angus’s mouth twitched up in a tiny smile. “Hypothetically,” he said, “I’d be okay with it. But I don’t… know whether I’d want you to tell me what happened there. Hypothetically.”

Taako considered this, his stomach settling some now that he had hypothetical permission.

“Of course, muffin,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to hypothetically step on your toes.” He fell silent, not quite sure what else to say.

Angus, fortunately, had his back. “I got a letter from Mavis yesterday,” he said after a pause, and a shy smile spread across his face.

Taako smiled back. “Yeah?” he encouraged.

“She said they’re going on their first Xtreme Teen Adventure trip next week,” Angus said, reaching down absentmindedly to pet the dog at his feet.

Taako listened to Angus talk, a plan solidifying in the back of his mind, but the front of his mind was content to watch the boychik look happy for a little while.

 

* * *

 

“So we’re _not_ killing the McDonalds,” Merle confirmed, adjusting his warhammer on his back.

Lup let out a frustrated noise.

“Nah, we aren’t allowed,” Taako said.

 _“Thank_ you,” Lup muttered.

Magnus was oddly quiet as they made their way to the McDonald manse, the November chill making their breaths visible like some kind of dinky little dragon. Barry had been left behind, too wrapped up in his work, and Lucretia had declined to come as well. Davenport was two weeks into his international boating tour or whatever, but had sent his regards and a couple talking points. So it was just the four of them from the Starblaster crew, plus Kravitz, who would be joining them there.

When they reached the house, Taako took the helm and knocked on the door, Lup, Merle, and Magnus backing him up (and keeping him from bolting). The house seemed quiet, but Taako knew the masters were home; smoke was rising from the kitchen chimneys and a carriage-and-four had turned into the long-ass driveway as the adventurers approached.

It was almost two full minutes before Aila opened the door, and she looked distinctly ruffled. One arm hung limp to her side and her other arm was crossed over her body holding the door open in a very uncomfortable looking position. When she saw them, her eyes widened and she made to shut the door in their faces, but only having the use of one hand meant Taako could easily catch the door and hold it open before it closed.

“Wait,” he said. Aila struggled with the door, but she seemed weak and the door didn’t budge, even under Taako’s less-than-spectacular strength. “Hold up, chica,” he hissed. “Angus sent us.”

Aila let go of the door to cover her mouth in shock, and in the absence of the resistance on the door Taako accidentally swung it open wide. He pulled his hands back and awkwardly stuffed them into his pockets.

“You were here before,” Aila whispered, her eyes flicking back and forth between Taako and a point over his left shoulder, and Taako guessed that she couldn’t tell if it had been him or Lup that first time. “You said you were with the census bureau.”

“Welp, I lied,” Taako said, taking her cue and keeping his voice lowered too. “Listen, we wanna talk to the McD’s.”

Aila looked suspicious. “Just talk?” she asked. “You… You guys are dangerous.”

Merle stepped forward. “Just talk,” he confirmed, his crunchy voice carrying farther than he probably meant it to. “We’ve been expressly forbidden from doing anything else.”

“By Angus,” Magnus added.

The corner of Aila’s mouth twitched upwards. “That sounds like him. Always surrounded by conflict but managing to stay out of it.”

Magnus laughed nervously. “He’s gotten into much more trouble since he left home.”

Aila looked alarmed and Taako elbowed Magnus hard.

“He’s _fine,”_ Lup said, and Taako could hear daggers in her voice. “We could… take you to see him if you want,” she offered, her tone softening.

Aila hesitated, and she was about to respond when a muffled call from elsewhere in the house made her jump and turn away from the door for a moment. When she turned back she was flushed with embarrassment and she seemed to have folded back in on herself. Damn.

“Um, let me go see if my masters will see you,” she said quietly. “Please come in, you can wait in the parlor.”

She led them into the parlor, a richly decorated room that was impossibly stuffy. Grandma rugs, dainty tables with dainty knickknacks, and everything was made of wood carved into curlicues with weird brocade fabric cushions. Merle, humming appreciatively, took a seat near the window, and Magnus wandered to a curio cabinet. Taako saw him run his fingers over the delicate carvings on the frame of the cabinet. Lup and Taako stood in the middle of the room, Taako nervous as all hell and Lup completely still next to him.

No one spoke for nearly ten minutes, until they heard two pairs of authoritative footsteps coming down the wooden floors of the hallway. Merle and Magnus hurriedly joined Lup and Taako, arranging themselves the same way as before, facing the parlor door.

Owain McDonald II entered the room with a sour look on his face, closely followed by Marchan McDonald, who looked irritated and impatient. They stopped just inside the door, heads held high and stiff. Taako saw Aila reach in to take the door handle, trying not to look interested, and she kept the door cracked. He could see her shadow along the bottom of the door.

“Yes?” Owain said. “I know who _you_ are,” he said, glaring at Taako, “but the rest of you are...?”

Lup chuckled, and there was a dangerous edge to it.

“We’re the people who take care of the son you forgot to raise,” Taako said.

Marchan somehow drew herself up even straighter, looking extremely offended.

“Dear gods,” Owain muttered as he looked between Taako and Lup. “There’s _two_ of them.”

Hearing this, Lup grinned evilly, showing all her teeth, and linked arms with Taako. “You better believe it,” she said.

“We just wanted to have a sit-down with you,” Taako said, “and let you know how your dear sweet boy is doing out there in the world.”

The McDonalds stood fast, and Lup hummed. “Brother mine,” she drawled, her voice syrupy-sweet, “I think we may have to stand this whole time.”

“How rude,” Taako said, matching her voice. “Ungracious hosts.”

Merle chortled from somewhere behind and to the right of Taako.

Owain’s face turned red, but he and Marchan stayed rooted to the ground. “I’ll not be spoken to like that,” Owain spat.

“Oof,” Lup said, “touchy.”

There was a brief standoff, Taako exchanging glares with Owain, Lup with Marchan, and at last Marchan relented, gesturing to the uncomfortable sofas. The Starblaster crew watched them as they sat.

“We’ll stand, thanks,” Magnus said, and Owain looked like he just barely held himself back from growling as he and his wife stood back up. Magnus snickered.

“We did him a favor, you know,” Marchan spat.

“Hmm?” Lup hummed, but Taako’s jaw clenched tight.

“He had no idea how the real world worked,” Marchan explained coldly. “He knew nothing of human nature, how to take care of himself, how to provide for a family. His nanny laid out his clothes every day and cut his steak for him.”

“He was _nine,”_ Magnus exclaimed.

“I owned a branch of my family’s bank by the time I was seven years of age,” Owain said, his nose in the air. “Age is no excuse for lack of ambition and responsibility.”

Something in Taako snapped. He felt his blood simmering beneath his skin, a low and controlled burn, making him quiet and even and _dangerous._

“Lack of ambition,” he said quietly. “Lack of _ambition?”_

Owain huffed but couldn’t completely hide the fear behind his eyes, and Taako _loved_ it.

“That boy, the one whose name you won’t say, had more ambition when I met him than the rest of these idiots combined,” Taako hissed, waving a hand at his companions.

“He wanted to be a _detective,”_ Marchan retorted with a grimace.

“So?” Merle asked.

“It was unrealistic,” Marchan said flippantly, flicking her fingers at Merle as if to shoo him off. Merle huffed indignantly.

“No, _unrealistic_ is a kid graduating fantasy high school at nine years old and his ‘parents’,” Taako said, making air quotes, “not being proud of him.”

Owain scoffed. “He was eight years old at the time,” he said.

“Nah, bud,” Magnus said, and Owain bristled at the slight, “he was nine. Maybe if you’d paid attention--”

“If he was nine then he _definitely_ could have worked harder,” Marchan said haughtily. “Owain graduated at six.”

“Oh, very nice,” Lup said to Owain. “Bet you skipped a bunch of stuff like learning how to be a good person, though.”

“I won’t apologize for giving him a reason to work hard,” Owain said.

Magnus laughed. “You withheld literally the most basic things a parent is supposed to give their kids,” he said. “Food, shelter, security--”

“Our estate has top-of-the-line security and we _never_ starved him,” Marchan interrupted.

“Maybe so,” Taako interjected, “but when you kicked Angus out you took away all of that.” He made particular note of how they both flinched when he said Ango’s name. Interesting.

“What would you have us do?” Marchan asked, but Taako could tell she wasn’t asking for genuine suggestions.

Merle shrugged. “Raise your own damn kid?”

“Then bring him back,” Owain nearly yelled, gesturing widely. “I’ll raise him, I don’t care. But if he’s ungrateful…”

“He doesn’t have to be grateful,” Lup countered, her even voice contrasting nicely with Owain’s angry words. “He’s your child. It’s not his job to thank you or be who you want him to be. His job is growing up to be a good person.”

Marchan laughed derisively. “A good person? No one ever got anywhere being nice.” She spat the last word.

“Angus did,” Magnus said, and the McDonalds flinched again. “He’s done more for other people, for _the world,_ than you ever will.”

Despite her clear discomfort, Marchan scoffed. “Like what?”

“Oof,” Lup said, leaning on Taako and looking at him with mock-concern, “let’s try to come up with some examples, cosí.”

“Well, loba,” Taako replied, taking the same tone of voice, “there was that time he saved all our asses by being nice to the dragon trying to kill us.”

“You ‘member when he baked us cookies imbued with love and those cookies saved us from the fear demon?” Merle asked, putting on a dreamy face.

“Yeah, that was tight,” Taako agreed. “They were fuckin’ delicious, too. Good raw talent there.”

“And the time we were about to be killed during the end of the world and he took your staff and cast the biggest fireball in the history of the universe and killed, like, forty monsters at once?” Magnus said, his voice fond and proud.

“The only point you’re making is that a child is more competent than you are,” Owain said haughtily.

“Yeah,” Taako said with a shrug. “We’re idiots. But Angus?” Flinch. “Top notch kid.”

“But you wouldn’t know that, would you?” Lup asked, her voice low and even.

Owain sputtered. “I’ve already _said_ I would take him back and raise him,” he said.

Lup and Taako let out a hard “Ha!” in unison. The McDonalds jumped and took a step backwards as one.

“You lost your chance,” Taako said.

“Nonsense!”

“No, you don’t _get_ to be part of his life now,” Merle said, taking a menacing step forward.

“Angus deserves better than you two,” Magnus said, squaring his shoulders and drawing himself up to his full height.

“Angus deserves a steady roof over his head and real protection,” Lup added.

“Angus deserves people who actually care about him,” Merle said.

Each time they said the boy’s name, Owain and Marchan took an unconscious half-step backwards, increasing the distance between them and the Starblaster crew.

“Angus deserves people who actually _love him,”_ Taako said fiercely.

At this, Marchan stopped and stood her ground, setting her jaw, levelling a steady glare at Taako. “Who are you to tell me how I should feel about my own child?”

“For Pan’s sake,” Merle growled, “say his goddamn name.”

Taako shrugged. “I'm one of the people Angus has said he loves. So is he,” Taako pointed to Magnus. “And her.” Lup. “And him.” Merle. “We’re just a few of the people he wants to spend time around. Who he asks for advice. Who remember his birthday and Candlenights. And we love him right back.”

Owain took his cue from his wife and stood firm. “You can't stop us from getting our son back.”

Taako set his jaw and felt Lup tense next to him, and he knew Merle and Magnus were making themselves menacing, too.

Just then there were some crinkle-tinkles and a sound like a zipper ripped through the room, and Kravitz stepped out of the tear in spacetime.

“Sorry I'm late,” he said pleasantly, smiling at Taako before he read the tone of the room and looked around. “Oop, my bad.” He pulled up the hood of his robe and let his flesh-face melt away, as gristly as anything.

Owain and Marchan turned white as a sheet.

“Oh, right,” Taako said, putting an arm around Kravitz’s waist. “You haven't met my boyfriend, the goddamn grim reaper.”

“This is a trick,” Owain said, looking faint. “That's not real.”

“You wanna take that chance?” Merle asked. Kravitz rummaged around in his robes until he found a scythe.

“Ooh, new scythe?” Lup asked.

“Nah, just cleaned the old one,” Kravitz replied, holding it out for her to see, and the McDonalds leaned backwards as the blade moved.

Taako narrowed his eyes at the McDonalds. “Now, we’re gonna leave, and we’ll leave you alone.”

Marchan looked relieved, but Owain still looked suspicious, and they both seemed distinctly afraid for their lives. Menuvales.

 _“If,”_ Lup added, “you swear you’ll never come looking for Angus.”

“And if he comes around looking for you _\--if--”_ Merle said, “--you act pleasant to him. And you apologize for all the shit you put him through.”

Owain’s face turned red again, fast enough that Taako was honestly surprised his head didn’t explode.

“Or…?” Owain asked quietly.

Taako shrugged. “Or we kill you,” he said casually. “And we’ll know.”

He snuck a glance at Lup and saw that she was smiling and her eyes were glowing red, and Marchan was staring at her, terrified. Taako grinned and made his eyes go red, too. Simple thaumaturgy, but it had its desired effect. Marchan paled even further. Cool, nice.

“So?” Kravitz asked, his voice gone all spooky.

Marchan collected herself enough to glare between the five of them.

“Fine,” Owain spat. “Now get the hell off my property.”

“Mmkay,” Lup said, and she twirled a finger in the air. “I think we’re done here, boys.”

“Sweet, let's pick up some falafel on the way back,” Taako said as they all turned to leave.

“There’s a great place on Third, I once killed a guy there,” Kravitz said, still in his reaper garb.

Taako heard frantic or maybe angry whispering behind them and grinned, the knot in his stomach starting to loosen.

Taako and Kravitz were the first out of the parlor, and as soon as the last person had left, the door swung closed and Aila stood between it and the visitors nervously.

“Sir,” she whispered urgently, her eyes on Taako.

“Yeah, hey, what’s up?” he asked, a little lightheaded.

Aila looked embarrassed as the rest of the crew huddled around, Magnus in particular looking Highly Concerned. She smoothed her good hand down the limp arm that still hung by her side and seemed to steel herself.

“Is Angus okay?” she asked, vulnerable and genuinely worried.

Merle smiled. “He's great.”

Aila nodded, her expression unchanging. “I…” She trailed off, looking like she either lost her voice or her nerve.

“We can take you to see him,” Magnus offered.

Aila laughed sadly and looked down. “They'll never allow it. My job is on shaky enough ground as it is…” She gestured at her limp arm and Taako’s jaw clenched. The fuckers were going to fire her just because she wasn't as _useful_ as she once had been.

“Taako’s got an idea,” he announced, and Aila looked confused. Lup raised an eyebrow and Taako grinned at her. “How'd you like a new job with good benefits and you can see Angus whenever you want?” he asked Aila.

Aila stared at him, disbelieving. Then she shook her head with a sad little laugh. “He probably doesn't want to see me,” she whispered. “I bet he's forgotten all about me.”

Merle chuckled. “You kidding? He talks about you all the time.”

Aila turned her stare on Merle this time. “Really?” The corner of her mouth twitched upward.

“Hell yeah,” Taako confirmed. “You ‘member like a month before the world ended there was a burglar alarm going off in this joint?”

Aila nodded slowly.

“That was us,” Magnus said proudly, and Aila looked alarmed.

“It was _me,_ barimer,” Taako snapped over his shoulder before turning back to Aila. “I popped in to grab Agnes’s favorite thing he wasn't able to take with him. The magnifying glass you gave him.”

Aila covered her mouth, her eyes getting misty.

“So whaddaya say?” Lup asked softly.

Aila looked between all of them with watery eyes and finally nodded. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“De nada,” Taako said, and he shooed her away from the door.

He turned the handle and popped his head into the parlor. Marchan and Owain were having some kind of intense but quiet argument and their heads whipped around comically when they heard the door open.

“Hey, so, we’re taking Aila with us, ‘kay?” he said casually, and pulled the door closed before they could respond, but he had a good private laugh at the indignant faces they pulled and just how fast Owain’s face got red this time.

“Let’s go!” Magnus called cheerfully, shepherding everyone towards the front door.

“My things!” Aila reminded him, and he stopped in his tracks.

“Right after we get Aila’s things!” Magnus amended himself, and he gestured for her to lead the way.

“Ba’al agoleh,” Lup and Taako muttered in unison.

“Right, so, I'm Magnus,” Mag introduced himself as they began walking, pressing a hand to his chest. “That crunchy fucker down there, he's Merle.”

“Hey!”

“Am I wrong? The twins are Lup and Taako, and--Krav, your face.”

“Oh, my B, my B,” Kravitz mumbled, pulling his hood down and getting his flesh face back. “I'm Kravitz.”

“He's the grim reaper,” Taako said conspiratorially, his arm still through Kravitz’s. “And also my boyfriend. It's all very exciting.”

 

* * *

 

“Are you sure--”

 _“Yes,”_ Taako interrupted Aila for what felt like the ten thousandth time.

The glass ball taking them back to the moon base was cramped. It had been fine on the way to Neverwinter when there were only four of them, but now a fifth person had joined. Kravitz had poofed away again, off doing death stuff, and Taako was secretly glad they hadn’t tried to squeeze him in, much as he loved Kravitz. Taako had enlisted him to poof up to the base beforehand, though, to brief Lucretia and Barry on the new face joining them. It was to be a surprise for Angus.

As the hangar in the bottom of the base opened and the second moon was revealed for what it really was, Aila gasped and asked a lot of questions that none of them knew the answer to. How was it floating, whether it was the real second moon, blah blah. As the ball docked, though, she fell quiet, looking around in the dark hangar with huge eyes.

“Evening!” Avi called through the glass as he started pulling open the door latches. He grinned as he wrenched open the thick door and then got a puzzled look on his face. “One, two three… Alright, _what?”_ he asked. “There were four of you when you left, right?”  

“Yeah! New recruit!” Magnus said as he clambered out of the capsule.

Avi automatically lent a steadying hand to each of them, but he blushed and kind of stared like a deer in headlights when Aila took his hand. He accidentally kept holding her hand when she was safely on solid ground, and only let go when Merle cleared his throat and Taako snickered.

He blushed even deeper and his long ears twitched in embarrassment as he looked down. “S-sorry, miss,” he said softly. “I’m Avi.”

Magnus let out a guffaw at Avi’s reaction until Lup elbowed him hard in the ribs.

“Avi, this is Aila,” Taako said. “She basically raised our dear Jango.”

Aila blushed too and self consciously ran her hand down her bad arm. “Nice to meet you.”

Avi let out a weird gusty breath and smiled like a doofus. “Yeah.”

Taako snorted and was about to sing that Kissing In A Tree song when the door to the rest of the base opened and Barry came in.

“They’re coming,” he hissed, speedwalking like a nerd to the small group near the capsule. He blinked and almost as an afterthought stuck out his hand towards Aila. “Barry Bluejeans, nice to meet you.”

Aila, suddenly looking nervous as all hell, didn’t respond, she just turned towards the door. Her ears, not quite as long as the elves’, twitched and swiveled like a cat’s as those of them in the room with good ears heard a familiar voice chattering away as it came closer.

“--and mice have heartbeats that are so fast it just sounds like humming,” Angus was saying. “Isn’t that neat, Ms. Director?”

“Mmhmm,” Lucretia responded, sounding excited in her own quiet way, which is to say that she wouldn’t sound excited at all to anyone who hadn’t spent over a hundred years learning how to read her.

“What did you want to show me?” Angus asked.

“Lup and the boys brought back a surprise from planetside,” Lucretia said, and a moment later Angus pushed open the hangar door.

Angus stood stock still for a long second, staring at Aila, who was biting her lip nervously. Then, slowly, a huge smile spread over Angus’s face and he took a couple steps into the room and then he was running, sprinting at the woman who had taught him how to be kind and gentle, who had provided him with comfort even though she couldn’t quite protect him.

Aila was crying by the time Angus reached her, and she stooped down and held out her good arm. Angus ran straight into her, also crying, and the force of it would have tipped both of them backwards if Magnus hadn’t been right there and steadied them.

Taako looked away, some kind of emotions that were Not At All Including Jealousy happening in his chest. He was happy for Ango. Probably. Okay, definitely. It was a weird kind of happiness, but it was real. 

He looked back and saw Aila crying happy tears and smoothing her hand through Angus’s curls, patting his shoulder, brushing away tears on his cheeks, a never-slowing cycle of motherly affection. Angus kept his arms wrapped tight around her middle as if afraid she’d disappear if he let go.

To Taako’s left he saw Lup shift closer to Barry and lay her head on his shoulder, and he reached out to wind his arm around her waist. Magnus was crying. Lucretia, still hovering just inside the door, looked misty-eyed and even had a small, fond smile on her face. Merle was watching the reunion with a big grin and he looked around until he saw Lucretia and gave her a big, cheesy thumbs-up. Avi stood nearby watching awkwardly, but unable to keep that goofy smile off his face.

“Are you really--what are you doing here?” Angus eventually asked.

Aila laughed happily. “I stopped working for your parents,” she said. “I’m going to work here now.”

Angus started crying harder and his arms tightened even more somehow.

“I’m sorry I left,” Angus whispered, and Aila pulled him back enough that she could look him in the eyes.

“No, no, sweetheart, don’t be,” she cooed. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help you stay.”

Angus nodded, sniffled loudly, and buried his face in her throat again. Aila hummed soothingly, petting his hair, and after a minute Angus pulled back and took a good look at her.

“What happened?” he asked, reaching out like he wanted to hold the hand that hung limply against her side. He stopped himself, though, and balled his reaching hand into a fist which he then held right down next to his side.

Aila smiled sadly. “The Hunger got me,” she explained. “Just a little.”

Angus’s eyes went wide with alarm and he grabbed at her good hand. “Are you okay?” he asked frantically.

Aila’s eyes went soft. “I’m fine, sevgilim,” she said gently. “I promise. No pain, no lasting symptoms, just a limp arm.” She took Angus’s hand and pulled it to touch her bad arm, and he gently poked at it. “See, I can’t feel that,” she said.

“I’m sorry,” Angus whispered.

Aila smiled and cupped her hand under Angus’s chin. “Don't be. It’s alright. Promise.”

Angus nodded slowly.

“Come here,” Aila whispered, and gathered him up again.

Taako and the others shifted awkwardly, all except Magnus, who was eating this shit up and sobbing quietly.

Aila locked eyes with Taako over the top of Angus’s head. “Thank you,” she said yet again, and Taako nodded awkwardly, too out of his element to be his cool and confident self.

Angus pulled back and wiped his eyes, then looked around, suddenly looking self-conscious. “Um, Aila, have you met everyone?” he asked.

“Not _everyone,_ really,” Aila said, her eyes flicking unconsciously to Avi for just a fraction of a second too long. “Just Taako, Lup, Merle, Magnus, and Kravitz. And Avi, just now.” She blushed.

“Okay!” Angus said, not seeming to notice anything out of the ordinary, somehow. “This is the Director,” he said, gesturing her over.

“Please call me Lucretia,” Lucretia said, shaking Aila’s hand. “I’ve got a few projects I think will be right up your alley.”

“That’s Barry Bluejeans, Lup’s boyfriend.”

“Partner,” Barry corrected, finally getting the handshake Aila had been too distracted for earlier.

“And that’s Avi, he runs the hangar.”

Avi blushed and looked uncharacteristically shy. What the fuck.

“Hi,” he said.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Aila said, looking only at Avi and seeming to forget that they had actually already exchanged pleasantries. “All of you,” she corrected quickly, looking around.

She blinked and her eyes went out of focus and she paled. “Oh,” she gasped, and her knees buckled. Avi sprang into action before anyone else could move, catching her elbow and waist and easing her down to sit on the floor.

“Easy,” he murmured. “Get woozy?”

“Yes, all at once,” she said.

Avi smiled. “Don’t worry,” he said. “Happens to everyone the first time they come aboard.”

Taako snorted and headed for the door. “Get some booze,” he called over his shoulder.

Avi didn’t respond to him, but as Taako left to go start a celebratory dinner in his old apartment he heard the sound of more footsteps following him out and Avi asking, “Do you want to go get a drink or something?”

 

* * *

 

It was winter in Neverwinter, and the irony of that was ignored by pretty much everyone.

Or, at least, if anyone was making cracks about it they weren’t around Taako at the time.

Taako’s sick ass wizard school was just a couple short months from opening, and he was busy designing the uniforms and dorms and all that, in between training Angus and spending time with his lovely boyfriend.

Magnus’s farmhouse, recently completed, bore a huge surprise he revealed at the Candlenights party that year: Magnus had built it so huge that there were seven extra bedrooms, six of them designed for one or two of his friends, plus an extra for guests. Angus got his own bedroom at Bugbear Cove, complete with like four bookshelves and a loft bed and a big ass painting of a magnifying glass. There was a nautical themed bedroom for Davenport, a tropicalish bedroom for Merle, a chill bedroom with a big writing desk for Lucretia, a stark black and white and red bedroom with a huge closet for Lup and Barry, and, best of all, a kind of hipstery bedroom with fairy lights all over it and another huge closet with extra scythe storage for Taako and Kravitz. All sitting there waiting for whenever they wanted to come visit.

Magnus, that big lunk with a heart that apparently just wouldn’t quit, planned his whole house around his friends, humanoid and canine. Even the armchairs in the living room. Oh, that weird assortment of armchairs in there and the ugly ass overstuffed one? Yeah, he fucking built an armchair for each member of the Starblaster crew and the plaid one was his. Fucking gonif.

Aila had moved into the moon base for now, until she could figure out a more permanent place. Avi was apparently taking advantage of this opportunity and was hardcore courting her, and she was all about it. Nasty.

Lup and Barold spent a lot of their time hunting down naughty souls with Kravitz, so there wasn’t a lot of point in them buying a house. So they naturally lived at Bugbear Cove between cases. 

Merle and his kids were off on their own adventures almost all the time now, but always managed to stop in whenever they were in the area.

Taako’s school was pretty close to Bugbear Cove, strangely enough, and since the farmhouse was closer to the school than Taako’s house, he ended up staying there a lot. Just until everything was ready and the school could run itself. Seriously. Just until then. Definitely just that reason and nothing else.

Angus stayed at Bugbear Cove, too. The commute up to the moon had gotten unreasonable, and here was a bedroom he’d designed for himself, and a bunch of his parental figures, and a fuckton of dogs…

Parental figures. Fuck, dude, but parental figures.

There was Aila, of course, but she was up on the moon and Angus was planetside most of the time. There was Merle, but he was off with his real kids 98% of the time. There was Lucretia, but she was busy as all hell putting the world back together. There were Lup and Barry, but they were off doing reaper things with Kravitz all the time. There was Magnus, and he was maybe the most stable parental figure of all of them, but Taako didn’t… like that.

Taako himself, he was… busy, or whatever.

Nah, fuck it, he wasn’t a good parent. He was flighty and had commitment issues out the ass and cursed too much and didn’t know what movies were “kid appropriate” and had absolutely no instinct for any of this and got unreasonably angry at the McDonalds and, I dunno, probably something about bedtimes or whatever.

Magnus was the better parent. The baby should be Angus Burnsides.

But fuck, Taako was invested in Agnes’s future. So he didn’t like the thought of Magnus being the only one on the adoption papers. If there were to be adoption papers, that is. They were leaving that all up to Angus.

 

* * *

 

“I swear to fuck, you’re growing like an inch a day,” Taako said, measuring Angus’s height against his arm.

“Are you sure?” Angus asked, sounding excited.

“Yeah, pits’l, you were like this tall last Tuesday, I swear,” Taako replied, pointing to about an inch above his elbow.

Angus looked doubtful and Magnus piped up from across the room, his hands full of dog and dog brush. “We oughta mark your height on the kitchen wall or something,” he said, trying to contain the wriggling lab in his arms.

Taako and Angus both looked blankly at Magnus. He was preoccupied by the dog and so it took him almost a whole minute to notice the looks he was getting.

“What?” he asked defensively. “You never had that growing up? Where like your parents draw on the wall to show how big you’ve grown?”

“We didn’t have real good parents, Mag,” Taako said.

Magnus looked chastised. “Well, then, I guess we gotta do it.”

Taako made a face. “Really? Now?”

Magnus shrugged. “Yeah, why not?”

“The party starts in an hour, sir, and you’re not dressed,” Angus said.

Magnus laughed. “It’ll take me two seconds to get ready.”

“That’s what we’re afraid of, chato,” Taako said pointedly.

The doorbell rang, and about two dozen dogs started losing their shit. Taako covered his ears and grimaced as he went to open the door.

“You’re early, viejo,” he told Merle, who shouldered past him anyway, Mookie bounding in after him and Mavis calmly bringing up the back.

“Yeah, well,” Merle said vaguely. “Angus! Where are ya?”

“In here, sir! Thanks for coming!” Angus called.

Merle laughed heartily. “‘Course! Happy birthday, kiddo!” He slapped Angus on the back, making him stumble.

“Good one sir, you really got me.”

Carey and Killian turned up next, followed in short succession by Aila and Avi (conspicuously holding hands, the dweebs), Davenport, and Lup, Barry, and Kravitz (all looking exhausted and rumpled). Just before the party started, Lucretia showed up.

“Got the thing?” Taako asked her after greetings had been handed out.

Lucretia nodded and produced a file folder from somewhere in her robes. “All ready to go.”

Taako took the folder and passed it to Angus during a lull in the action.

Angus leafed through the contents of the folder and took a deep breath. “Okay,” he said quietly, then smiled nervously up at Taako.

“Don’t have to do it right now,” Taako reminded him.

Angus nodded. “I want to do it tonight, though,” he said, and then handed the folder back. “Can you put it in the kitchen for now? Carey and Killian said they wanted to talk to me.”

“Sure thing, zeiskeit.”

Lup was in the kitchen in an apron, putting finishing touches on Angus’s birthday cake. Chocolate cake with a raspberry jam layer and fresh raspberries for decoration on top of Lup’s award-winning chocolate buttercream.

“Hey,” she said as Taako came in. “Roast’s almost done, can you check it?”

“No,” Taako said even as he pulled open the oven door. “Looks like five more minutes. Sprouts good to go?”

“Not quite. Needs the chopped walnuts.”

They settled into a familiar rhythm, dancing around each other without much conversation, tossing the salt and pepper shakers without looking and anticipating each other’s moves. Taako found himself smiling. Gods, he’d missed her.

“You ready for tonight?” Lup asked.

Taako let out a breath and refused to look up from the cheese he was grating on top of the salads. “Probably?” he said, not altogether liking how vulnerable he sounded.

Lup’s next observation was interrupted by a large portion of the party cramming into the kitchen, led by Magnus.

“Yeah, I was thinking this house needed something,” he was saying. “Over here looks good. Ango?”

Taako turned around, needing to watch whatever the fuck was about to happen.

“So I just…?” Angus trailed off, pointing at the narrow section of the wall Magnus was talking about.

“Yep,” Magnus confirmed, pulling a flat carpenter’s pencil from his pocket. “Back to the wall, flat footed, and hold still.”

Magnus pressed down the top of Angus’s hair, his curls giving him an extra inch of height, and marked a line right on the wall. Angus stepped away and stared as Magnus wrote out next to the line “ANGUS, AGE 12”.  

“I can’t believe my baby is twelve,” Lup cried, playing up the emotion in her voice, and Angus shot a bright smile at her.

“Who’s next?” Magnus asked, looking around.

“Me! Me!” Mookie yelled, shoving himself through the small crowd to stand against the wall.

“You gotta stop bouncing for just a second, shortstop,” Magnus said.

Mavis went next, and then Magnus started pointing out adults in the crowd.

“Lucretia! Your turn!”

Lucretia chuckled and obligingly stepped up.

“Kravitz!”

Kravitz pulled himself to his full height, and then Taako saw the faintest magical shimmer as his boyfriend added another two inches.

“Merle!”

Merle grumbled when Magnus asked how old he was, and grudgingly supplied 194, to the delight of his children.

“Wouldn’t that be 294? Because of the century we spent hurtling through all those other planes and shit?” Lup asked, and Merle stealthily flipped her off.

“194,” Merle insisted, and Magnus laughingly complied.

“Barry!”

Barry, the shortest of the nondwarf adults so far, grimaced at the line just a couple inches above Angus’s.

“Cap’nport!”

Davenport tried to bow out, but Magnus all but dragged him back, laughing about being “part of the _family,_ Cap!”

Avi, then Aila, then Lup, then Carey, then Killian, everyone got measured. Finally, saving him til last due to the possibly actually harmful daggers he was glaring, everyone ganged up on Taako and made him stand by the wall.

“Don’t know _why,”_ Taako huffed. “I’m the same size and age as Lup, you coulda just written my name there too.”

“Shut up and get over there,” Lup called, laughing evilly as she stirred what looked like a cauldron of potion but which was actually mulled cider.

Taako squirmed and grumbled as Magnus mussed his hair drawing a line, and then Mag _snorted._

“What?” Taako demanded, stepping away from the wall.

“Lup’s like, a good half inch taller than you, dude,” Barry said.

“Impossible,” Taako said, storming back to the counter where his mashed potatoes were waiting to be seasoned. “I’m older.”

“Amazing what a good pair of heels can do, germá,” Lup said with a grin.

 _“I’m_ wearing heels,” Taako said, sticking out a foot so she could see.

Lup snickered and stuck her own foot out from under her long skirt. They were wearing the same shoes.

Taako rolled his eyes as everyone laughed.

“Well, one of us is going to have to change,” Lup said.

“Don’t ever change,” Barry said, and everyone started drifting away, still laughing.

"Fuck off, Barold!" 

There were no set activities for the party, Angus having wanted a grown up dinner party for some reason, so people drifted in and out while Lup and Taako finished cooking, and then between dinner and dessert.

They all gave Angus his presents, and he somehow managed to tear up at literally all of them, even Mookie’s Fart In A Can.

After the last box was unwrapped, Taako got Angus’s attention and raised his eyebrows in an unspoken question. Angus squared his shoulders and nodded seriously, so Taako retrieved the folder from the kitchen.

“Attention, y’all, shut up, an important person is speaking,” Taako called, and gradually everyone quieted. “We have one more order of business before we get fuckin’ blasted.”

Taako handed the folder to Angus, who opened it and spread out a handful of forms on the coffee table.

“I, um. Thank you all for coming,” Angus said, looking real nervous. “I’m… Tonight I announce what I’m changing my name to,” he said after taking a huge breath.

Killian let out a whoop, and most everyone applauded.

“Several of y’all offered to adopt me, and I appreciate that a lot,” Angus said. “But I decided that I’d rather be an emancipated minor and have a bunch of kind-of parents than pick favorites. Because I love all y’all so much,” he said, his voice breaking just a little.

Taako smiled. None of this was news to him, but suddenly all of his apprehension dissolved as he looked around the room and saw a dozen supportive faces smiling encouragingly at Angus. It didn’t matter that Angus probably would never be _his_ kid officially, because he already kinda was. And besides, all of them working together to raise one kid meant Angus would always have somewhere to go and people to take care of him.

What _was_ news to him was whatever Ango had decided namewise. He kinda regretted pulling Taaco from the runnings almost a year ago.

Lucretia passed Angus a nice-looking fountain pen, her birthday gift to him.

“This brand is the best,” she murmured. “Perfect for important documents.”

Angus took a deep breath as he uncapped the pen.

“From now on,” he said slowly, “I’m not going to be Angus McDonald, officially. I’m going to be…”

Taako crossed his fingers behind his back. He saw Magnus biting his lip and Merle’s fists clenched on his knees in anticipation.

“Angus Fisher.”

Taako blinked.

Angus let out a shaky breath and looked around, and Taako smiled and gave him a thumbs up. Magnus sniffled and put a big hand on Angus’s shoulder.

“It’s perfect, kiddo,” he murmured.

“He’d be real proud of you,” Merle said.

Angus wrote “Angus Fisher” on the name change forms, and the spell was broken.

Carey let out a loud whoop, throwing her hands in the air, followed shortly by Killian and Avi and Mookie.

“Avi! Bartending!” Lup called, pointing to the makeshift bar in the corner. “Cap! Music! Taako! Ice cream! Killian! Fantasy jello shots in the fridge!”

“Time to fuckin’ party!” Magnus hollered.

“Wooo!”

Later, as the party fizzled and people started making their way to the bedrooms or out to their own homes, Taako looked around for Angus. He wasn’t in his room or the kitchen or the living room or anywhere else Taako could think of. Finally he thought to glance out the windows to the backyard and saw a little dark spot against the white of the snowbanks down by the lake.

Taako pulled on his cloak and his most favorite pointy hat and grabbed his wand from the pencil jar in the kitchen and headed for the lake, casting a Light spell to light his way. He quickly found he didn’t need it, ‘cuz the moonlight reflected off the snow and lit everything pretty well, and he dismissed it.

Angus turned as Taako approached, and even though his mouth and nose were hidden behind his bigass scarf, his eyes showed his smile.

“Some party,” Taako said.

Angus hummed an affirmative.

“You have fun?”

“Yeah.”

They were quiet for a minute, just contented silence.

“The lake should be solid enough to go ice skating soon,” Angus observed.

Taako hummed.

They were quiet again. 

"Do you like my new name?" Angus asked softly. "Angus Fisher?" 

Taako grinned. "'Course I do. It's perfect." 

Angus smiled a wobbly smile and wiped at his eyes. Taako nudged at his arm until he looked up. 

“I’m so proud of you, mechayeh,” Taako said quietly.

Angus trudged closer and Taako pulled him into a hug.

“Thank you, sir.”

“You don’t hafta call me sir.”

“Okay, Taako.”

“No, no, the correct form of address is ‘Your Majesty,’” Taako said, and Angus laughed.

Taako let him go and Angus turned to look out at the lake and the snow-capped mountains beyond it. Taako kept his arm around Angus’s shoulders.

The snow fell around them, masking every sound except the faint music from the dwindling party in the house, and for once in his goddamn life Taako was positive everything was going to turn out alright.


End file.
